Wiz Khalifa @ Fillmore Auditorium (August 6, 2019)
Cameron Jibril Thomaz, most commonly known as Wiz Khalifa is an American rapper that had great successes since his debut single “Black and Yellow.” Wiz Khalifa has always been known to openly express his use of cannabis as it is his way to express that he was enjoying life.
Wiz Khalifa had been on his tour, “The Decent Exposure Tour” since July 9th in Atlanta and just stopped in Denver for their 22nd stop at the Fillmore Auditorium. The artist included French Montana, Playboi Carti, Moneybagg Yo, Chevy Woods, and DJ Drama, but the lineup for the concert varied per location. Particularly for the Denver stop, Wiz Khalifa dedicated his concert playlist for his love of cannabis and how he was currently enjoying his life.
Even though I do not drink alcohol or smoke, I was excited for the concert. Personally, I had always been impressed with Wiz Khalifa and the energy that he seemed to give to the audience when he performs. It was my first concert seeing him live. He had recently released a mixtape called FLY TIMES VOL. 1: THE GOOD FLY YOUNG in April which I was excited to hear him perform. Even though the concert lineup included Moneybagg Yo, Chevy Woods, and DJ Drama for the concert in Denver, I didn’t think my concert experience would end up in this way.
Despite all of the promotion and the hype that the Fillmore Auditorium was doing about Wiz Khalifa’s tour, it started off on the wrong foot as the concert did not begin until almost 9:00 PM, even though the concert was to begin at 7:00 PM. As soon as I entered the venue, the floor quickly flooded with people and smoke. The people were chattering in anticipation that the concert would begin right away, but the DJ booth remained empty and the lights were turned off on the stage. More and more people filled the venue, but there wasn’t anything for a couple of hours when the opening act began with DJ Bonics. Instead of the main DJ for his tour, DJ Bonics started playing a mix of beats: combine with deep bass and drums to entertain the audience. For awhile, it did keep the audience upbeat, but it wasn’t long until there were a lot of disappointment from the audience as the show wasn’t able to begin because the main DJ wasn’t on stage nor the artist that they had promised.
Everyone finally settled down when DJ Drama made his way onto the stage. He began right away with mixed tracks dedicated to Mac Miller starting with a heavy beat. In the beginning, it received cheers from the audience, but as the beat mixes involved just Mac Miller’s tracks with the DJ adding in additional sounds, fans were slowly losing interest as the concert did not seem to be about Wiz Khalifa (although this was his tour with his name on it). The DJ failed to communicate with the audience although the stage and the floor were very close together. People were even attempting to leave even before the other artists were on stage.
Fortunately enough, Moneybagg Yo and Chevy Woods lightened up the venue as they performed their big hit songs: “Mandatory Drug Test” by Moneybagg Yo and “Medicated” by Chevy Woods with their collaboration with DJ Drama. The audience members that seemed deflated were coming back to life. The audience members began putting their arms around other people’s shoulders as they were rocking side to side in sync with the beat. Although the audience members seemed more engaged compared to DJ Drama’s mixes, it appeared to me that the audience were coming back to life because of the influence of cannabis and alcohol (less of the music and the performer). People seemed to be interested in other things as there were not many phones out to take pictures and record the performances.
Personally, I had enjoyed the performances of Chevy Woods and Moneybagg Yo as I could see the artist’s passion and love for their music. They delivered each track full of energy and I could clearly see that they were putting themselves out there. In fact, my heart was thumping with the low tone of the bass. It was beating faster with the beat. However, they were clearly different from the main act of the night: Wiz Khalifa’s stage.
As “King of Everything,” everything changed for the better good as Wiz Khalifa finally made his appearance on stage. Although this was his concert, he didn’t appear until the last 20 minutes of the concert. But even though this was the case, the lights, band, DJ, and the other artists in the lineup seemed like it was a warm-up to greet him when he was on stage. The artist interacted with the audience by asking about how they were feeling after his performance. His presence was definitely different compared to Chevy Woods or Moneybagg Yo as he showed that he was not “everybody’s equal… ’cause [he] is the king.”
Wiz Khalifa spent a lot of his time trying to reconnect with the audience by asking questions about whether they were having fun and whether they were drinking or smoking during the concert. He got the audience jumping on their feet as he jumped on and off of the stage pointing the mic at the audience members for engagement. With each beat and line, everyone was singing along in unison. As the venue was getting hotter, I felt the energy that the artist was giving out to us.
I remember him openly expressing his love for cannabis throughout the concert as he said that it was “[his] way of enjoying life to the fullest.” He also said, “Just because I stay away from them, doesn’t guarantee a happy life. I don’t want to regret later in life. I wanna enjoy it.” He dedicated the song “You and Your Friends” to the audience not to encourage the use of alcohol or drug, but to tell them to live their life as if it is their last moment now. And I was with the 3,900 people that were also there to enjoy my life.
OFF THE RECORD 