In the heart of Charlotte, North Carolina, fans of the "Trapsoul" artist Bryson Tiller eagerly gathered for what was definitely an unforgettable night filled with a great performance, upset fans and media alike. With his highly anticipated 2023 "Back and I’m Better Tour" in full swing(his first tour in over 5 years), Tiller's recent performance in Charlotte left the audience ...well...shocked in either one of 2 ways. As he showcased his unparalleled talent, captivating stage presence, and an unwavering connection with his devoted fans, the production, itself, left a great amount to be desired. Lets get into this.
Many people forget how big Bryson Tiller was in the Trapsoul era, and to be honest, he's still got it. His combination of proficient live & studio singing on top of the proficient rapping, iced with the multiple hit songs on his repertoire, he really only had to not lip-sync at this show to confirm that he was back. Was he better though?
As I, along with other Tiller fans entered the show, the opening DJ was getting warmed up by (who I believe to be) a regional rapper who did really well. The DJ then proceeded to play others peoples' music for the next hour. Always making sure to keep the crowd singing along, by teasing the fact that Tiller was about to come out. It was complete overkill time wise, and it made me dislike the DJ. Whoever gave him the same time slot as Tiller needs to maybe take a vacation and return later because it was just a bad idea. Many people in the crowd expressed how they were sick of waiting for Tiller(which is to be expected for a huge artist like Tiller) also began to laugh at the end of the DJs set when he started alluding to Bryson even coming out.
Then, after a pretty long changeover, Bryson Tiller hit the stage. He played his first intro song which was roughly :45 seconds long, then they proceeded to kick all of the media out of the photo pit. He had security like he was Drake or a Kardashian, and the venue was a Live-Nation backed notoriously safe venue. The vibes were just weird, but he was so good.
Despite the long wait, and short setlist(for the first headlining tour in 5+ years) he performed extremely well. Shoutout to his sound engineer because he was sounding crispy. The crowd erupted in cheers as Bryson Tiller made his grand entrance, appearing amidst a mesmerizing display of lights and smoke. The energy in the room was palpable, and it was clear that this would be an awesome performance. I am fond of most of his songs, very much, so I won't go into the song choice due to inherent bias, but he did play a new song I didn't catch the name of. When he left the stage, everyone was expecting an encore, and many audience members were visibly and audibly upset when the venue lights turned on. A small section of the audience tried to chant his name, but it was over before it began. After confirming there was no encore, I quickly made my way out, dodging the pissed fans and merch bootleggers.
At the end of the night, despite the odd energy, I saw a short but solid Bryson Tiller show, with an excruciatingly long opening DJ set. I like Bryson Tiller. I was pleased. Im not sure how the remainder of the tour will be received, but we will see soon. The new song that he did play sounded pretty hard...nothing mind blowing off one listen in a huge crowd of people, but usually R&B type music of any kind has to be actually digested to be truly appreciated, especially as a culture. Anyways, he confirmed theres new music on the way & showed & proved at the same time. Ya'll know Charlotte be getting mad at everything thaugh too though so thats nothing new. With respect. Everything Bryson Tiller at https://trapsoul.com/ . Signing out.
All words and photographs
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