by Ari Roth
Future’s Thursday night show started off slow. Tour opener Rico Love was somewhat disappointing; few of his songs have much staying power, and even the best ones, particularly the hit single “They Don’t Know,” are marred by an unsettlingly possessive, bitter attitude towards women. For someone who raps so frequently about relationships, this is not a good look. Fittingly, the high point of his set was when he brought out recent signee Tiara Thomas for her verse on the “They Don’t Know” remix, as well as one of her solo songs. Thomas is a talented, charismatic rapper and singer, and she deserved considerably more stage time than she got. Local opener Newz Huddle didn’t fare much better than Rico Love, with generally forgettable songs and awkward stage banter, including stopping the show for several minutes to ask the audience to follow him on Instagram. Neither act was particularly engaging, but the headliner more than made up for the inauspicious start.
A few years ago, Future was dismissed by many as too gimmicky or too weird to fully cross over, a regional curiosity whose outer space demeanor, Autotune-abusing vocals and off-kilter hooks would never be palatable to a mainstream pop audience. Seeing him now, in a large venue packed to the brim with exuberant fans, what stands out is how successfully he has made the mainstream come to him. Future no longer seems “weird” in 2014, and his influence amongst the new wave of Atlanta rappers such as Young Thug has positioned him as an unexpected Godfather to the scene. With the release of this year’s Honest album, along with his ubiquity as a featured hook-man on last year’s rap and R&B charts, he is now a genuine superstar. Thursday’s show at the Trocadero felt like a well-deserved celebration. The audience knew every word, and every time Future turned the mic around or let the beat cut out, there was a chorus of screams there to pick up right where he left off.
The set was tightly constructed, barreling through an incredible number of bonafide hits over the course of his relatively small discography. The focus was squarely on his more aggressive, club-oriented tracks, although he did briefly return to his sensitive side on his show-stealing chorus for Rihanna’s “Loveeeeeee Song” and especially the brilliant ultraballad “Turn On The Lights.” I would have appreciated a few more of these moments – particularly Honest‘s gorgeous, blissful “I Be U” – but the crowd collectively lost it to industrial-strength hits like “Karate Chop” and “Same Damn Time”, feeding off of the continuous momentum. One particular highlight came on Honest’s title track, when the beat dropped out entirely and Future beamingly led the audience through the shiver-inducing falsetto croon of the chorus. It’s a remarkably tender moment on a song ostensibly about partying, and it felt both joyful and slightly melancholy when experienced in a room full of ecstatic superfans. There were downsides too – particularly the unpleasantly objectifying woman-as-trophy single “I Won” – but on the whole, Future’s intense, concise set emphasized just how much better he is than his legions of imitators, with an uncanny ear for hooks and a powerful stage presence. I had tons of fun.
