Following the release of his fourth studio album, “HARDSTONE PSYCHO,” singer and rapper Don Toliver has been touring around North America. On Nov. 2, I traveled with some friends up to Columbus, OH to witness the spectacle of his “Psycho Tour.”
At 7:30 p.m., the show opened with a short set from Molly Santana. I had heard and liked some of her music prior to the show, but it definitely translated well to a live setting. Her bass-heavy cloud rap sound quickly got the audience engaged.
After Santana, Monaleo performed. Unfortunately, this killed a lot of the momentum that Santana had built up, with a lot of the audience leaving to use the bathroom or check out the merchandise stands. At one point, she brought out “special guest,” Stunna 4 Vegas, who’s best known for his features on Dababy’s music in the late 2010’s, and this didn’t do much to help fix the bad vibes. She ended her set by performing an embarrassing rendition of Miley Cyrus’s “Party In the USA,” only switching out the word USA for Columbus. Thankfully, this was the only big misstep of the night.
The “Psycho Tour” had one more opening act ready to warm the crowd back up, which was South Floridian rapper, Ski Mask the Slump God. His performance was electric from start to finish, with Ski Mask sticking mostly to his SoundCloud era highlights, like “Babywipe,” “Unbothered” and “Faucet Failure.” He also led the crowd in a handful of tracks in memory of his friends, the late XXXTENTACION and Juice WRLD, such as “Jocelyn Flores,” “Legends,” “Lean Wit Me,” “Take a Step Back” and “Look At Me!”
Then, finally, after all of the anticipation, Don Toliver took the stage. He opened with some songs off of his newest album, “KRYPTONITE,” “TORE UP” and “BROTHER STONE,” before going into some of his highlights from over the years.
The production value was high across the board, featuring an impressive light show, flaming barrels, pyrotechnics, smoke machines, a rising platform and a two-story set that the guitarist played from for the majority of the performance.
However, the most impressive moment of the show was definitely when he brought out two stuntmen on motorcycles and had them zipping around in a spherical cage while he performed “BANDIT.”
The “Cactus Jack” rapper struck a perfect balance between performing his new material and his established classics. Some of the highlights were his performances of “Cardigan,” “FIELD TRIP,” “Flocky Flocky,” “BACKSTREETS,” “NEW DROP,” Travis Scott’s “CAN’T SAY” and “FE!N,” “What You Need,” “No Idea” and my personal favorite, “Swangin’ On Westheimer.”
To end the night, Toliver played “TORE UP” at least 10 more times in a row, to the delight of his fans who couldn’t get enough of it. Overall, the “Psycho Tour” was a blast. There was clearly a lot of attention put toward the production of the show, making it feel like a larger-than-life experience. Toliver had a great stage presence and impressive live vocals. If you’re a fan of Don Toliver or rap and R&B music in general, I’d definitely recommend checking it out yourself.
Don Toliver: Psycho Tour Review
Following the release of his fourth studio album, “HARDSTONE PSYCHO,” singer and rapper Don Toliver has been touring around North America. On Nov. 2, I traveled with some friends up to Columbus, OH to witness the spectacle of his “Psycho Tour.”
At 7:30 p.m., the show opened with a short set from Molly Santana. I had heard and liked some of her music prior to the show, but it definitely translated well to a live setting. Her bass-heavy cloud rap sound quickly got the audience engaged.
After Santana, Monaleo performed. Unfortunately, this killed a lot of the momentum that Santana had built up, with a lot of the audience leaving to use the bathroom or check out the merchandise stands. At one point, she brought out “special guest,” Stunna 4 Vegas, who’s best known for his features on Dababy’s music in the late 2010’s, and this didn’t do much to help fix the bad vibes. She ended her set by performing an embarrassing rendition of Miley Cyrus’s “Party In the USA,” only switching out the word USA for Columbus. Thankfully, this was the only big misstep of the night.
The “Psycho Tour” had one more opening act ready to warm the crowd back up, which was South Floridian rapper, Ski Mask the Slump God. His performance was electric from start to finish, with Ski Mask sticking mostly to his SoundCloud era highlights, like “Babywipe,” “Unbothered” and “Faucet Failure.” He also led the crowd in a handful of tracks in memory of his friends, the late XXXTENTACION and Juice WRLD, such as “Jocelyn Flores,” “Legends,” “Lean Wit Me,” “Take a Step Back” and “Look At Me!”
Then, finally, after all of the anticipation, Don Toliver took the stage. He opened with some songs off of his newest album, “KRYPTONITE,” “TORE UP” and “BROTHER STONE,” before going into some of his highlights from over the years.
The production value was high across the board, featuring an impressive light show, flaming barrels, pyrotechnics, smoke machines, a rising platform and a two-story set that the guitarist played from for the majority of the performance.
The rollercoaster after revival
However, the most impressive moment of the show was definitely when he brought out two stuntmen on motorcycles and had them zipping around in a spherical cage while he performed “BANDIT.”
The “Cactus Jack” rapper struck a perfect balance between performing his new material and his established classics. Some of the highlights were his performances of “Cardigan,” “FIELD TRIP,” “Flocky Flocky,” “BACKSTREETS,” “NEW DROP,” Travis Scott’s “CAN’T SAY” and “FE!N,” “What You Need,” “No Idea” and my personal favorite, “Swangin’ On Westheimer.”
To end the night, Toliver played “TORE UP” at least 10 more times in a row, to the delight of his fans who couldn’t get enough of it. Overall, the “Psycho Tour” was a blast. There was clearly a lot of attention put toward the production of the show, making it feel like a larger-than-life experience. Toliver had a great stage presence and impressive live vocals. If you’re a fan of Don Toliver or rap and R&B music in general, I’d definitely recommend checking it out yourself.