As you know if you read my post last week, I went to see J. Cole perform this past Friday. He lived up to the expectations. As energetic and engaging as ever, Cole put on a show that not many artists can do.
He always sang to the concert-goers, not at them; took requests for old songs of his to play; and upped the ante in terms of stage presence from his last Winnipeg show with a full band, backup singers, and massive video screens.
Sippin’ Henney throughout might’ve helped. Whatever gets the job done.
He stepped on stage, looked around at the wondrous Burton Cummings Theatre and said, “This place is fucking amazing.”
J. Cole got the show started with his Born Sinner hit “Trouble” which set an epic tone for the evening. He went all the way back to songs from his earlier mixtapes like “Blow Up,” his breakout songs “Lights Please” and “Who Dat?” as well as his Drake-featured hit “In The Morning.”
Tracks from his sophomore album and first album (Cole World: The Sideline Story) included “Nobody’s Perfect” with a hook from Missy Elliot, “Work Out,” “She Knows,” “Forbidden Fruit” featuring Kendrick Lamar, “Crooked Smile” with TLC and “Power Trip” featuring the rising-star Miguel.
The show wasn’t quite as intimate as his first show here at the Garrick – seeing as The Burt is over double the size – and started around 1.5 hours behind schedule; but a quick opening act from Bas, and J. Cole’s outstanding performance made us all forget about it.
KG
lupe taught me — @kgoldstine 