Aubrey 'Drizzy' Drake Rogers came to London from the 7th-9th January to perform at the Hammersmith Apollo. A concert that was originally scheduled for July 2009, but postponed until the current date. The anticipation had gathered, from that July and with the release of his first studio album, it became fever pitched.
Three straight nights (Fri, Sat, Mon) Hammersmith was sold out, and as I got to Hammersmith, on Drake's last night in london, the buzz had still not diminished. After experiencing the Apollo on various occasions for many a artist, I knew queues could be quite long, but this I was not expecting. It was huge, but you could still feel the excitement even through London's bitter winter blues.
Once inside, and catching the last of the Westwood set, and 'Teach me how to Dougie' had just played out, the auditorium filled up nicely, the brandy had hit the chest to warm my cockles, and I was placed nicely in a seat not too far from the front of the balcony.
As J Cole came out, a roar went up, fans of music made noise, even if they had no idea who was on the stage. It felt like the crowd was mixed between real fans of J cole, who had the mixtapes from, The Come up to the newest set Friday Night Lights, and with people definitely there just fro Drake, and with no Knowledge of Roc Nation's first signing under Jay-Z. J Cole was energetic, with a stage presence. Lyrically this guy is amazing, which in turn is great for music, but in a concert if you dont know who he is, or the songs he has, is very hard to grasp and connect with automatically. He reeled off some of the stand out tunes, one's that have lit up radio, such as Who Dat and 'Hit it in the Morning' (without Drake coming out). His vigour of spirit was enough to carry his performance, and he brought the crowd in, right side, left side etc. I got a glimpse of a future star, and was a little disappointed I was unable to reach his own individual show in Koko. But I see 2011 being a big year from him, he just needs to release more good songs quicker, he has had Who Dat out for a while, needs something fresh.
To the promoters of Drake and J Cole - What the fuck happened to hiring a DJ, host, comedian, even a fucking dog to run around in the Interlude??? For 20 plus minutes, Hammersmith stood (or went to the bar) in pretty much silence. With no form of entertainment, it wasn't long before the shout 'We Want Drake' rang out. As the restless crowd below me raised their voices, they were heard. But not exactly drake, just a few lights and movements, of which each got an excited scream, and everyone looked up, just to look down again.
But finally, Mr Rogers, Drake himself was coming to the stage. A stage set-up with the band behind see through curtains, pylon beams with lights flashing just in front of the curtains and then stage, and drake.
Drake cam out in a T-shirt, some combats and a pair of jordans, I was expecting more fly from the guy, but then again he is the guy nominated for a Grammy off a mixtape single, so who can really talk. Drake makes music, raps, sings, and is a Star, this I agree with, but as a performer, he is still learning a lot. A set that was musically scripted, and felt like it was too well constructed that it never connected fully with me. Of course I sang, rhymed along to most songs, and yes Drake is now commercial, seen from the hundreds of teenagers, many as young as 13, in the concert hall, from all ethnic and social backgrounds, but I still only thought the show was good and not great. Fans of early Drake, are still expecting him to drop songs like, Closer to My Dreams and Im Still Fly - but this expectation has to elapse. Drake will get bigger and the mixtape songs will completely disappear from the sets. His band (especially the drummer) were fantastic, and the lady with the violin was on point. Drake went from hyped to Mr. R&B right over to sex symbol in his time on stage. Girls were gladly singing and shouting at him, as he asked 'if London had the best he ever had' or if they wanted his 3 stroke, and wanted to know his name (RiRi Naa Naa). He has a good voice live when serenading the females in the crowd, but by the number of males that had come to see him, he is doing a balancing trick very well.
All in all, J Cole and Drake's performances were worth going to see, I was pleased with most of the show, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I expect to see Bigger and Better from both artists in the future, and i'll be right there to give you my perception on it all.
DotDublin
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