Despite having a negative personal experience with the headlining artist involving JUSTIN BIEBER and cans of ginger ale, I attempted to go into this show without having my opinions interfere with my reporting. Fortunately for me, though, RICKY HIL's fans managed to sour the entire night long before the man even set foot in the venue.
From shouting over the openers demanding to know what time RICKY would be taking the stage to waving a thumbs down from the front row so much that security needed to intervene and tell them to have some respect, I truly have never seen a crowd show the levels of entitlement as I did during this show. Not surprising considering RICKY HIL himself is the poster child of nepotism and entitlement, being the son of clothing mogul TOMMY HILFIGER.
The show opened with Phoenix local THE GOD SAMARITAN bringing a setlist of, as he describes, "dark, and depressing rap music." Fortunately for him, this early into the night the crowd wasn't as rowdy, and everyone seemed to be vibing (or at least as best as they could with the subject matter of the songs being performed.)
Unfortunately, the rest of the night was not quite as enjoyable. BOUTS took to the stage next, announcing that he would be starting off slow but not to worry because it would be getting heavy by the end. By "heavy," he just meant he was going to crank the bass on the track. Going from an act like THE GOD SAMARITAN, who had pretty deep subject matters throughout all of his songs, to BOUTS, whose formula seemed to consist of bass overloads and rapping about having sex with women, just felt off.
Not quite as off as the second half of his set, though, as the bass-heavy beats that were being rapped over transitioned to a full on pre-recorded metal instrumental that he proceeded to do pig squeal karaoke over. Closing out his set, one lyric, along with the audience's reaction to it, stuck out prominently to me as a shining example of everything wrong with this scenario: "Anarchists never fade." Looking around at the crowd full of people sporting anti-capitalist and Anarchy symbols gushing at the line while simultaneously unable to notice (or just don't care) that the man saying it is sporting TOMMY HILFIGER apparel while opening for the son of THE TOMMY HILFIGER was truly a moment that made me look down at my Crocs and think "fuck, Idiocracy actually IS a documentary."
At this point I can only assume that the set provoked a response similar to the Stand "Survivor" from the “JoJo's Bizarre Adventure” Stone Ocean ark where an audible signal simulates the aggression center in people's brains, making them extremely irritable and prone to violence without provocation. I can't think of any other reason for some select members of the crowd to begin shouting at the final opener, relentlessly asking when HIL would be on stage. Even after being assured that, just like the sign outside said, there are four names on the line up. So with two down, we were still one set away from the headliner. This continued INTO the set, and honestly? I really don't know why Rebel Lounge security didn't have the main culprit leave the building. She had been problematic all night thus far, and Security had approached her multiple times, but seemingly with no actual resolution.
Despite the interruptions, SORRYWHAT still delivered a fantastic set, and poked some fun at the elephant in the audience by starting the set saying "I know I'm not Ricky Hil, and I'm sorry. But he'll be on soon! Also I'm not a rapper." Delivering a very different vibe from the previous two sets, it was all very upbeat, and self-described as a dance party. Despite the vibe change, it was still a very enjoyable performance.
Near the end of the set, it was announced there were only a couple more, and then RICKY would be on. The audience members, still suffering from the previous sets frenzy buff, groaned. In an attempt to turn that mood around, it was further announced that the next one is not only his favorite song of his, but it had never even been played live before!
More groans. He didn't care though, and just went right on with it.
Partway through, the same audience member that had been being problematic began waving two thumbs down at the stage to the extent that security came and asked her to stop because it's disrespectful. From that point on, she proceeded to wave a thumbs UP and smugly stare at the security guard whenever she very over-enthusiastically clapped. RICKY HIL’s fanbase truly seems to reflect the entitlement woven into the artist’s image.
I can only imagine that played a role in SORRYWHAT's decision to say, "Gonna skip this next song so we can get this over with and you can have Ricky Hil" before completely contradicting his initial message of "I am not a rapper" with an INSANELY good flow. Not a rapper my ass. I just wish I could have heard the song that was taken from us, too, considering the saved time didn't even make a difference and RICKY still hit the stage late.
With the last set wrapping not too long before the 10:00 mark, it would be reasonable to assume the headliner would go on AT 10. There's no changeover needed but a mic swap and clearing a table off the stage, which was done in under a minute. Not to mention it's a Sunday night with the crack of Monday just two hours away. The problem at hand? RICKY still wasn't even in the building.
At 10:10, I overheard his crew saying the set was actually scheduled for 10:15, but that came and went without any sign of our headliner. The crowd was shouting more and more for him, and once again I really need to question why security did not eject the patron who was clearly extremely intoxicated and causing issues that quite literally resulted in the previous set cutting short.
10:18 hit and I could hear JIMMY HENDRIX's “All Along the Watchtower” blasting from a car just outside the door. Moments later, before the door even OPENED, the room somehow managed to reek so much of marijuana smoke that it was as strong as actively being IN a hotboxed room.
With RICKY finally on stage, he let everybody know that "these are my real stories”–funny how none of the stories mention his lavish upbringing. The man literally has "Limo Life" tattooed on his fingers as a reference to the fact that he has always been driven wherever he goes.
Whatever it is that his fans can see in this cosplay of being a rapper, I entirely fail to. In fact, the only part of the set that I found remotely entertaining was when RICKY addressed a dwindling crowd that barely even encompassed the Rebel Lounge's very small stage shouting "PHOENIX YOU SHOWED UP TONIGHT! SO MANY PEOPLE CAME OUT, THIS IS THE BEST NIGHT OF THE TOUR SO FAR!"
The Rebel Lounge’s small size can lend itself to intimate, energetic shows. However, this night exposed its flaws. Security failed to control an intoxicated audience member who disrupted multiple sets, and the headliner’s delay was further exacerbated by poor coordination from staff which further fueled the audience issues.
Comments