Drake – The Centre for Performing Arts in Vancouver – July 26, 2010
On what would regularly be a quite Tuesday night, May, David and I were able to head to The Centre to catch hip hop phenom Drake wrap up his “Away From Home” Canadian tour here in Vancouver.
May & I went a bit early to check out the opening acts; DJ Charlie Brown, P. Reign and Francis & The Lights. Sometimes you ‘find’ a gem when you watch the support, this was not one of those times.
While DJ Charlie Brown was putting down a good set and trying to work the crowd into some excitement, there was just too many empty seats and people still coming and going from their seats to really get any momentum. He spun solo for a few songs then introduced P. Reign, the self-described “best unsigned rapper
in Canada”. At least he has the giant ego of a rap star…too bad he didn’t have the goods to back it up! (that’s just my opinion…the legion of front row 16 year olds seemed to be into what he was putting out)
After about a 20 minute set from P. Reign and a very quit stage turnover,
on came New York based Francis & The Lights, who said very little to the audience, just performed a handful of very radio friendly pop-rock songs to a stoic audience and then left with hardly any fanfare. Sadly I they were an odd match to be on this bill and it did them a disservice, in a small club venue with the appropriate audience they would be a good show…possibly.
It didn’t matter because in no time the audience was back in a frenzied state as the lights dimmed and anticipation built for the headliner, Drake.
It was worth the wait! We were super impressed with his stage presence, for a relatively young, new artist he commanded the stage like some of the veterans that he has worked with: Little Wayne, Kayne West, Jay-z to name a few.
His acting skills (he appeared on Degrassi: The Next Generation for 8 seasons) really help him create the persona and build the rapport with the audience. Non more so than when he brought a young lady from the crowd up to the stage to ‘seduce’ during a slow jam (but being a responsible Canadian artist of the YouTube generation, he did preface it with a warning about what she might experience:
groping, licking, kissing, etc plus verified her age, 26) If all the guys didn’t want to be like him and the girls didn’t want to get with him before this moment, this definitely won them over…he has the swagger that makes a star.
Besides all the persona and bravado, the main product – his music – was excellent! Drake can rap with the best of them but he also has an outstanding singing voice (as heard on ‘Find Your Love’). As the evening wrapped up, Drake brought the house lights up and really interacted directly with some of the audience members, pointing out individual women and men, commenting on their ‘fineness’ or what they were wearing. This really brought the bond between artist and audience to a new level…the crowd ate it up!
So, after a rocky beginning, the night ended on a surprisingly good high from an artist I would definitely recommend to see again.