At 21:30 a wall of amplifiers installed on the stage begins to vibrate the ground which once housed an ancient stadium dedicated to horse racing and performances associated with Roman religious holidays, to sound the alarm of parked cars, to ringing windows of buildings around the area and perforate the eardrums.
The set design, kept under wraps until the end, covered in spoiler sheets and gazebos, reproduces one shot – filmed in Pompeii’s amphitheater – of a scene from Circus Maximus, the film that accompanied the release on the album’s platforms. “Utopia”, in which the American rapper sings “Modern jam”, one of the tracks contained on his album. .It’s not an earthquake that destroys Circus Maximus, it’s Cyclone Travis Scott., which, like an alien on the notes of “Hyena”, appears in the archaeological area of the capital and overturns its connotations for an hour. An event with which the rapper of 67 million monthly listeners on Spotify last night presented his new record live for the first time – half a billion streams on the platform just over seven days after its release on July 28th – it took on the shape of a unique experience and historical event even before it was officially announcedliterally a week ago. And it didn’t disappoint. before over 55,000 fans gathered at the Circus Maximus and those who attended the event in every corner of the world live on the official websitethe record rapper put on a big and big event – despite the limited run time: an hour and a half and then everyone goes home – which will be talked about for a long time. Also shares the stage with a rap legend like Kanye West.. All right. It’s hard for anyone to believe when the 140 million-selling rapper worldwide, on holiday in Tuscany these days, shows up next to a homeowner: he joins Travis Scott on “Praise God” and when he finally sings his “Can ‘t say me “nothing”, Yeezus removes the hood that covers his face, the roar of the audience becomes deafening.
“Can you make some noise please? Make a fucking mess. Stracera will be a fantastic experience– Jacques Bermont Webster II shouts into the microphone – this is the real name of the rapper. After several days of waiting and searching for tickets, the record-breaking rapper finally appears on stage in a white astronaut suit and space goggles. This seems to actually have happened in the Circus Grande crossing the Spacetime Stargate. Parents who accompanied their teenage children to the concert can now see him in person.
Children who in recent years have compulsively listened to his hits on the platforms and followed his social activities – the last of which was yesterday afternoon when he was filmed standing on the roof of the black van that accompanied him around Rome, while thousands of people under the sun were already were ready to cheer him up at the Circus Maximus – they were finally able to see him in the flesh, without a phone. .When it happened, we got distracted and didn’t notice it, but suddenly Travis Scott became the most relevant and started talking about the artist of the moment.. The audience is spectators of big events even at the VIP booth: from the Giallorossi stars Paulo Dybala, Tammy Abraham, Stéphane El Shaarawy and Brian Cristante to Emma Marrone, past Bebe Vio, Franco126, Tedua and Rondodasos, everyone is dancing.
In “Circus Maximus”, one of the songs contained in “Utopia”, Travis Scott describes himself as a gladiator forced to entertain a crowd: this is what he does in front of 55,000 people, hiding behind a flame that heats up the atmosphere. climb the wall of amplifiers, walk along the podium dividing the stalls into two parts. On stage, he releases mystical energy like a pigtailed city saint. It has an almost mythological aura.
He sings and raps a little, using bases and sequences and running a stream of songs, from “Hyaena” to “Meltdown”, from “Thank God” to “Topia Twins”, going through the same “Modern jam”, “Live sirens”, “My eyes”, “I know?”, You are slowly conquering the audience. .The show is not even a real concert, but a performance, a live art installation.. There is no music in the center, which even overseas critics have defined as “incessantly gloomy, syncretic and above all unnatural” (here and there are a few more hits from the line-up’s previous albums, “The Butterfly Effect”, “Siko Mod”, “Goosebumps”) : the very presence of travis scott is the reason why the very young are under the stage. Participants, not spectators pagan rite and sometimes even apocalyptic which is basically a development of those that were once held right here in ancient Rome.
He thought of an event in Egypt, in the shadow of the pyramids of Giza in Cairo, where on the day of its release, he wanted to launch Utopia with a live concert around the world. The Egyptian Musicians’ Union then withdrew his permits, allowing themselves to be persuaded on social media. the rapper’s concerts were referred to as “strange rituals”alluding to the allegations that have been leveled on the head – and on the name – of Travis Scott ever since his 2021 AstroWorld Festival in Houston it turned out to be a tragedy in which 10 people died, crushed by the crowd that crowded under the stage on which he himself performed, and the most malicious wanted to see in that tragedy the features of satanic human sacrifice.
The star did not give up. He allowed himself a “luxury” temporary loophole like the Circus Maximus, and someone thought that in fact everything was already secretly decided: a perfect marketing campaign, not.proof of omnipotence. Live Nation, which organizes his show, provided him with the same stage that Imagine Dragons performed on last Saturday, again at Circus Maximus. Municipality of Rome – no longer takes Milan and its exclusives so far apart: last June 30, 80,000 spectators of the event at the La Maura Hippodrome, the rapper promised that he would return soon, but no one could imagine so soon – signed and signed the permission in within twelve hours after receiving a request for the use of the territory of the Circus Maximus (usually issued for 300,000 euros). In six days, he managed to gather 55,000 spectators.
No, Travis Scott is not an infamous cult leader from some crime-fighting title. However there is something generic and primal about that compact image in which 55,000 obsessively and obsessively jump up and down the earth: as if they are under a spell, a spell, a trance from which they awaken only to share live video on TikTok and Instagram, reconnecting with the real. More like demiurge of rhymes and sound, image and marketingwho, like his teacher Kanye West – in the Circus Maximus for the transfer? – was able to win the status of a universal artist, also actively working in the field of fashion, entrepreneurship and pop culture in general.
He’s a visionary, and it’s no accident that he chose to call his album Utopia to represent it.a state of dissatisfaction that lives like an artist, never fully satisfied, always ready to raise the barto bring your music to (Circo) Massimo: a rap messiah who seeks to rule the hip hop empire and rewrite its rules. And that’s what happened last night.
LADDER:
“Hyena”
“God bless”
“Greetings from Utopia”
“Modern Jams”
“Yes”
“Sirens”
“Thank God” (with Kanye West)
“Can’t Tell Me Nothing” (with Kanye West)
“my eyes”
“Butterfly Effect”
“Tallest in the room”
“Circus Maximus”
“Delrest (Echo)”
“Lost Forever”
“Mafia”
“I know?”
“No bystanders”
“Fee!n”
“Topia Twins”
“Babes Trapped”
“Cats”
“Molten”
“Sick Mode”
“Antidote”
“goosebumps”
“Telekinesis”