Vince Staples
13th January 2018
Studio, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Sarah Kidd. Photography by Shahlin Graves.
Orange.
It’s a prominent colour inside the venue tonight, from the t-shirts on sale at the merch stand to the illuminated backdrop of the stage, its dazzling brightness in some ways a metaphorical beacon. When looking at the colour orange in psychology it combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow; it symbolises such things as enthusiasm, creativity, success and determination; elements it could be argued that could be found strewn about in the music of Vince Staples. One of the more fascinating members of the hip-hop realm, Staples is often in high demand as not only an artist (although he hates that terminology of his profession) but as a guest on talk shows and as an interview subject. Highly intelligent and quick witted he makes for challenging subject material, often raising his own questions in response to those asked of him. These enquiries often feature in his music as well; by asking the listener he is pushing them to come up with their own idea of what he speaks of. Staples is not a man who likes to define the meaning of his work – that’s your job as the listener to figure out the answers.
Watching the stream of fans making their way through the doors of The Studio tonight, one has to wonder how each has interpreted the latest album for themselves. Are they here purely due to the fact that the release (and in all fairness his previous works as well) feature some absolute bangers that they just need to hear live? Or are they driven here by the connotations that they have found within this straight edge rappers offerings? One thing is for sure, the sold out crowd are hyped and ready to party, soon becoming restless as the confines of a packed out venue becomes slightly uncomfortable on an already hot and humid night.
Nine thirty is the scheduled time for Staples to hit the stage, the DJ who was the only support tonight finishing his set and leaving a good quarter of an hour beforehand. Nine thirty comes and goes, the crowd shuffles some more; just past the hour of ten and they begin to chant… Finally after several movements the backing track begins and so does the roaring of the crowd. Latecomers rushing towards the stage and causing a ripple effect through the already tightly packed together bodies as they try to fit themselves in, shying away from the interior lights near the entrance that can make you feel disconnected from what is happening up front. A bright orange screen fills the room with a strange hue, a small amount of smoke curling out from around the corners. The crowd are still cheering but kick up the volume a couple of notches when Staples, dressed simply in a black sweatshirt and pants finally appears. Immediately he gets straight into it, ‘Homage’ the chosen opener for the night, an interesting song choice in many ways as the opening lines speak of not thinking too much and just losing yourself in the music. And yet in the same breath they also tell of how Staples sees himself, or do they? We might have to wait awhile yet before he will ever divulge.
One thing is for sure juxtapositions are often a prominent feature of his music.
But right at this instant, it seems that no one is worried about the definitions or the possible underlying meanings – stop thinking, just move with the music – as the crowd bounces on the spot and belts out the repeating lines of the chorus with unbridled fire. That fervour continues as Staples moves straight into ‘Bagbak’, commanding the audience in a fierce undertone to get their hands up which they do without hesitation. Dropping the brilliant Gorrillaz track ‘Ascension’ upon which he features (let’s face it, Staples made that track) he commands the audience to get their hands back up, his tone almost chiding them for letting them down in the first place. During all of this the screen behind him has remained a solid orange wall of light, Staples pacing up and down in front of it as he spits out the lyrics in that distinguishing accent that is synonymous with his name.
While his set uses a backing track replete with samples of everything from seagulls cries to gunshots, Staples is still an impressive rapper, his flow often coming across in places as slightly monotone but perfectly smooth. Although tonight he does seem slightly distracted, checking behind the curtain to the side of the stage periodically throughout the set – technical issues possibly? Staples often performs while exuding a rather disaffected manner, but this evening one can’t help but wonder if there is some other reason for his demeanour. Regardless, Staples still delivers with his music, the screen suddenly displaying a lazy goldfish, its tail hypnotically moving through the water as the opening bars to the biggest track off his latest album turns the crowd upside down.
A slight pause and the screen fades to black, the sound of a thunderstorm echoes across the walls, and short bursts of white light simulate lightning. Once again Staples stands before the crowd, this time sans jumper; the heat and effort of his performance prompting its removal no doubt. “Hey Auckland, quick question” he pauses, as if almost for dramatic effect. “How the fuck y’all feeling tonight?” Unsurprisingly the audience screams their approval of this question being asked of them; Staples again asking the same question, only to be met with an even louder response. A couple of tracks later and Staples has another question for the fans; “Who’s heard of Big Fish Theory?”. In some ways this almost feels like loaded dice, is he referring to the album or the theory that the universe is actually just a big fish and there is always one that is bigger [cue tongue in cheek]. One thing’s for sure, Staples isn’t telling. The GTA track ‘Little Bit Of This’ goes off like a fire cracker, the venue resembling a club scene from a music video; while a few moments later Staples takes it down a notch; a microphone stand being brought out onto the stage to the sound of a car’s engine revving. Visuals of a desert again give a reprieve from the glaring orange, a car tearing up the dust as Staples performs ‘745’.
As the opening notes of ‘Blue Suede’ from his 2014 EP Hell Can Wait filter out from the speakers, a fan in the back starts screaming “Noooo!” over and over again, obviously in disbelief that his favourite track is about to be played live, those that have been fans of Staples from the beginning all looking deliriously pleased to be experiencing it as well. Staples encourages the crowd to jump, tells them to sing the words to ‘Yeah Right’ as loud as they can and then reminds them all that he is Vince Staples and with that issues a static “Thank you” before dropping his final track of the night ‘Norf Norf’. The crowd bays for more, they desperately start with the chant of “One more song” before moving into the singular call of “Vincent”, before giving up and resorting to hammering on the walls and stomping the floor with their feet.
But the house lights remain on.
The disappointment is however momentary – as the excited chatter of just how “lit af” the show was begins to fill the room and slowly spills out onto the street. Seems that the man from North Long Beach, California certainly made his mark.
Were you there at the Studio for this hot and heavy hip-hop gig? Or have you seen Vince Staples somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Homage
- BagBak
- Ascension [Gorrillaz]
- Party People
- Big Fish
- Rain Come Down
- Senorita
- Lift Me Up
- 3230
- Love Can Be
- Little Bit Of This [GTA]
- Ghost [With You.]
- 745
- Lemme Know
- Birds & Bees
- Big Time
- Blue Suede
- Yeah Right
- Norf Norf
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