November 07, 2023
If you told Lil Yachty listeners in 2016 that the artist’s shows would include a band covering Phil Collins in 2023, they’d likely be surprised. On the Field Trip tour stop at the Fillmore on Thursday night, Yachty led an adventure through an artistic evolution that resulted in his 2023 album, Let’s Start Here. — a sonic departure from the rap-oriented, trap beats that put him on the map. The smell of marijuana and incense filled the hallways as young people filed into the venue and packed the floor before the openers began.
On stage first was a DJ who asked, “Y’all mind if I heat this motherfucker up?” The crowd condensed within seconds; people instantly rushed to the stage and splashed water overhead when “Long Time” by Playboi Carti began. Excitement increased with Carti’s “R.I.P,” Waka Flocka Flame’s “Fuck the Club Up,” and Sheck Wes’ “Mo Bamba.”
Two rap acts, Stoop Lauren and Concrete, followed with brief sets. The former instructed the primarily Gen Z crowd — which included many teenagers — to “Open it up!” Sometimes, what opened was a mosh pit the size of one-third of the room. Other times, three circles opened simultaneously.
Concrete, the collective composed of Camo, Draft Day, Moe, and Karrahbooo, continued to stimulate energy by encouraging people to push others back onto the perimeters of the floor. Camo began solo with a cover of Carti’s “Stop Breathing” to “heat check the room,” but by the time all four members entered the stage, the majority of songs were recordings that the rappers danced and occasionally added a few words to.
Next, to many people’s surprise, the lo-fi R&B artist Nick Hakim showed up to slow things down. Hakim spent this year opening for Big Thief and Weyes Blood’s tours, so people may have thought, “What’s he — a guy with an acoustic guitar — doing here?” The answer: Hakim worked on a few songs on Yachty’s latest album. Unfortunately, the singer’s time on stage was brief; he played only five songs totaling just over 15 minutes. At least the calmer, rhythmic tunes with vibrant guitar strums provided a break for people to relax before Yachty took the stage.
Yachty’s performance could be viewed as three separate acts. The first and last were formed solely from the psychedelic, electro-R&B songs on Let’s Start Here. The second was a return to his roots with tracks from his early career, as well as singles released after Let’s Start Here.
Before the music started, fans held phones overhead for about three minutes, waiting to catch Yachty’s entrance. As the lights went down, a person urgently asked their friend to “Get the footage!” For people less than six-feet tall, the only view of the stage was through the phone scenes. On a screen above the stage, colorful, rapidly shifting visuals with abstract commands like, “Find the truth,” “Distort reality,” “Control your environment,” and “Break down spiritual barriers” flashed as the crowd chanted, “Yachty!”
The music began without Yachty on stage as the Silver Sisters, a band composed of six women — Téja, Lea Grace, Quenequia, Monica, Ro.Sa, and Kennedy Avery — infused the room with the disco aura of “drive ME crazy!” Ro.Sa sang, “Imagine life / Imagine life without me, it's a waste of time / You want the kind of love that can make a child,” with the most impressive vocals of any person on stage the entire evening. The band members were essential tour guides on the field trip through Yachty’s artistic rebrand. He showed them reverence, and at times, appeared like the background in the women’s show.
Silver Sisters left the stage for the throwback portion of the set, where Yachty rapped shortened versions of “Broccoli,” iSpy,” and “Minnesota” — undeniably catchy bangers that defined the 2016 college campus recreational scene for those on the generational cusp of older Gen-Zs and younger Millennials. Yachty’s presence was once ingrained in frat parties, 9 a.m. football pre-games, and smoke sessions in dorm rooms.
Anyway, imagine Yachty skipping “Minnesota” when in Minnesota, shortly after the first snowfall of the season. Of course he didn’t, instead teasing the opening of the song, stopping, then starting from the beginning. On “One Night,” the artist waved his hands like a conductor leading an orchestra. Songs like these, which aren’t even decade old, evoked a sense of nostalgia.
A notable difference between the acts containing Let’s Start Here. and Yachty’s solo time on stage, was the artist’s level of dependence on pre-recorded vocals. Like with the opener Concrete, Yachty sometimes rapped over backing tracks that included all verses, and his live voice got lost under the mix. The words he rapped into the microphone added accessorizing details to already completed songs. Nonetheless, this portion activated the most aggressive moshing.
Yachty remained front and center on stage most of the night, so the scenes off stage were the most visually entertaining. From the balcony’s point of view, the crowd’s collective movement appeared like a body of water splashing smoothly back and forth. But on the floor level, which I had to join for the throwbacks, warm and sticky bodies collided in rough transactions. Freshed bodies pushed to enter the crowd, and exhausted ones pushed to exit.
Audience energy settled for the final act, when the show ended how it started, with the Silver Sisters producing the funky tunes from Let’s Start Here. Yachty and the band teamed up for a sensual finale that included layers of synth pop on “WE SAW THE SUN!” Yachty sang, but let the other vocals' authentic, smooth voices take the lead. The show closed with the most powerful scene of the night as one artist vocalized and another nailed a guitar solo on “The BLACK seminole.” Yachty’s field trip through his distinct artistic eras wouldn’t have been possible without the Silver Sisters’ talent.
Photo Gallery
Setlist:
drive ME crazy!
the ride-
pRETTy
The Alchemist. / sHouLd i B?
sAy sOMTHINg
In The Air Tonight (Phil Collins cover)
SOLO STEPPIN CRETE BOY
Slide
Split/Whole Time
Get Dripped
Yachty Club
NBAYYOUNGBOAT
Flex Up
Coffin
From the D to the A
Minnesota
Broccoli
iSpy
TESLA
Poland
Strike (Holster)
One Night
IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON!!!
THE zone~
WE SAW THE SUN!
The BLACK seminole.