Concert Recaps
It’s sort of a weird time to be Post Malone. On one hand, he’s coming off the two most-difficult, least-successful albums of his career — the last of which, 2023’s Austin, failed to even generate a single top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit, marking a clear commercial low point for the pop-rap gold-spinner who was surpassed only by Drake in terms of consistent chart success for the second half of the 2010s. On the other hand, he’s already had two No. 1 hits this year, albeit both with co-stars (Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen, respectively) whose radio and streaming clout currently easily eclipse his own. Further complicating things: The latter of those two No. 1s marks the beginning of his long-hyped full foray into country music, a genre he has some obvious spiritual kinship with, but only tangential musical relation.
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This was a lot to balance for Post Malone during his headlining set at day one of New York’s Governors Ball festival (now officially referred to as just “Gov Ball”) — or at least, it seems like it should have been. But instead of trying to thread the needle between his successful past, his muddier present and his uncertain future, Post decided to simplify things with Gov Ball setlist: He simply played the hits. And he’s got a lot of them: more than you may even remember, more than maybe seems possible for a guy who’s only been making ’em since 2015 and has been in a relatively fallow period for ’em since the decade turned. As far as streamlining strategies go, it was a pretty undeniable one.
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“My name is Austin Richard Post,” the singer-rapper introduced himself after his first two songs, “and I’m here to play some s–tty songs and get a little bit f–ked up while we do it.” Whether dismissing his signature hits as “s–tty” was a sign of residual bitterness over his heavier, more personal recent work not being received as warmly as his debauched early hits or just the artist not taking himself too seriously, it ended up not really mattering, since it became clear pretty quickly Post was not interested in relitigating anything about his career on the evening. Instead, he played one smash after another — from “Better Now” and “Wow” through “Circles” and “Congratulations” — while gleefully shimmying, screaming, two-stepping and stripping (his shirt, anyway) on stage, looking every bit the superstar he was at his commercial peak.
The question of a Post Malone gig has traditionally not been whether he’d seem like a star, but what kind of star would lead the way: rap star Post, rock star Post, pop star Post, or now even country star Post? In truth, he’s been all four for some time — well, the first three, anyway, with the fourth seemingly on its way. But if one was the most forward on Friday night, it was probably rock star Post, with the first two songs (and many subsequent cuts) both being introduced via the grungy riffs of guitarist Liv Slingerland, and more six-string-heavy (and just heavy period) borderline inclusions like Beerbongs and Bentleys‘ “Over Now” and Hollywood’s Bleeding’s “Take What You Want” making the cut. There was lots of growling and shredding; one time, Post threw up the devil horns while hunching his shoulders and he very briefly kinda even looked like Ronnie James Dio. At some point in the middle of the set, the mix of loud, chunking guitars with rapping — largely about being angry at girls — inspired me to write in my notes: Has Post Malone been nu-metal this whole time?
But if country star Post is indeed on the horizon, you would not have known it from his Gov Ball performance. Just a day after making a pair of surprise appearances at CMA Fest — including one alongside longtime Nashville fixture Blake Shelton, with the two even covering a George Jones song together — he did not bring out Shelton, or Wallen, or any guest to further shepherd his new country pivot. (Aside from a couple fans pulled out of the audience to assist on signature ballad “Stay,” there were no guests of any kind during Post’s performance, not even “Rockstar” buddy 21 Savage, who’ll perform at Gov Ball on Saturday.) No mention was made by Post of his recent sonic and geographical detour, nor did he try out any brand new or unreleased material from his rumored upcoming full length. If you didn’t know going into the set that Going Country was a thing Post was currently in the midst of doing, you probably didn’t come out of it knowing either.
There was still the one obvious clue, though you had to wait till the second song of the encore for it: “I Had Some Help,” the reigning No. 1 song in the country, did eventually make its appearance as the evening’s pentultimate track. (As for “Fortnight,” his other No. 1 of 2024, forget it — it’s one thing for Post to sing over a Morgan Wallen verse, but trying to approximate an entire Taylor Swift lead vocal on his own would’ve been potentially disastrous on multiple levels.) “Help” sounded fantastic, and the crowd went bananas for it, but aside from its placement in the setlist Post gave it no special treatment, no lead-in or extra emphasis or anything to make you think it was a particularly notable song than most in Friday’s setlist. The implication was clear: “Help” is a hit, but still just one of many for Posty, and no one player is bigger than the team in a Post Malone setlist.
More of a statement, however, was the choice of the encore’s final song: “Chemical,” the biggest song from Austin, whose No. 13 peak was still fairly underwhelming by his career standards. It was the only song performed from the 2023 album — he played four times as many from 2016 debut Stoney — but it landed just like any of his bigger, longer-established hits, sounding much fuller live than on record, and making for a perfectly resounding closing number for the evening. The suggestion seemed to be that Post had never really stopped making big singles in the first place — and that regardless of whether on a given day he might be presenting more as a pop star, rap star, rock star or country star, what he truly is and always will be first and foremost is a hitmaker.
SETLIST
Better NowWowZack and CodeinePsychoGoodbyesI Like You (A Happier Song)Jonestown (Interlude)Take What You WantOver NowRockstarStayI Fall ApartWrapped Around Your FingerCirclesToo YoungWhite IversonCongratulations
Encore:
SunflowerI Had Some HelpChemical
Amid a battle-like dance-off and a full embrace of Brazilian culture, Anitta delivered her Baile Funk Experience at the Brooklyn Paramount in New York City on Sunday (June 2). It was the first of two consecutive shows, with its opening night successfully selling out at the recently opened venue.
Produced by Live Nation, Anitta’s Baile Funk Experience trek includes stops in Latin America, the U.S. and Europe. The 20-date tour is in support of Funk Generation, the sixth studio album from the trilingual singer, which highlights the favela funk that has influenced her career. Kicking off her show at 8:30pm, she ran through her biggest hits in nearly two hours, including “Funk Rave,” “Envolver,” “Vai Malandra,” “Bellakeo,” “Downtown” and “Girl From Rio.”
“I’m so happy. I’m so thankful to be here, showing Brazilian funk to the world,” she said in English before thanking her fans in Brazilian and then in Spanish. “I want to know who has heard my new album, Funk Generation.” She wore a black harness, pink happy-face plushies as a bra over a cut-out top and black jeans, letting her long copper-colored hair down.
The album title is particularly fitting, as Anitta has become the preeminent crossover Brazilian star of her generation. The New York concert drew an exceptionally diverse crowd, reflective of the city’s multicultural fabric. Attendees spanned multiple generations of Brazilians and Latinos, along with a wide array of other cultures. The presence of the LGBTQIA+ community was unmistakable, adding to the high energy of the audience — that also included numerous fashion-forward fans sporting lots of fishnet get-ups.
The 31-year-old performer is currently halfway through her international tour. Following her performance in New York, she is scheduled to entertain audiences in Bogotá, Colombia; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. After completing these Latin American dates, she will travel to Europe for nine shows across various countries. To view her complete tour dates, click here.
The Brazilian superstar is touring North America for the first time. Here are five standout moments from the first night of her Baile Funk Experience at the Brooklyn Paramount.
Dance, Dance, Dance!
Taylor Swift transformed the renovated Santiago Bernabéu Stadium into a musical party on Wednesday (May 29), performing to a euphoric crowd of approximately 65,000 fans. It wasn’t only a night full of music and excitement but a triumphant return for Swift, who had not played in Madrid since 2011, with only about 4,000 people in attendance […]
On Wednesday night (May 22), Bizarrap electrified Terminal 5 with his debut headlining performance in New York City. Commanding the stage from behind the decks, the Argentine sensation wowed the audience with his dynamic show. Highlighting the momentous night, he surprised attendees by introducing Dominican rapper Lismar to perform their newest collaboration, “Lismar: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 60,” live.
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“I just released a song a few minutes ago. Are you ready to hear it for the first time live or not?!” shouted Biza to the ecstatic crowd. “I brought a special guest. Her name is Lismar from the Dominican Republic. We didn’t just release one song, we released two!” Donning his signature BZRP-emblazoned black cap, his sunglasses and an Adidas windbreaker jacket, he launched into the whirling melody to “Vol. 60.”
The newcomer made her way to the main stage sporting a white strapless crop top paired with black sparkly-net long sleeves and baggy cargo pants. Bizarrap’s Run DMC-esque hip-hop beat filled the air as Lismar spat her rapid-fire rhymes to the roaring crowd. Meanwhile, the song’s music video, illuminated with Biza’s staple blue-hued lighting in his studio, played in the backdrop.
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“She is only 18, she is the future,” the Argentine producer said at the end of their song. Right away, they premiered their second song “Subió La Temperatura,” a funky rap jam with riveting breakbeats accompanied by a quirky video game-styled visual.
Other standout songs performed included “Vol. 53,” famously featuring Shakira, whose lyrics the crowd sang word-for-word. Villano Antillano, Quevedo, Residente, Snow Tha Product, Peso Pluma, and Arcángel where also among the mega hits the Latin Grammy-winning producer also spun.
On Saturday (May 18), Bizarrap unveiled his newest collaboration in the form of a sci-fi-themed seven-minute short film. On May 25, he will also perform at the Sueños Music Festival in Chicago, IL.
Watch Bizarrap and Lismar perform “Vol. 60” at Terminal 5 below:
On Thursday night (April 11), the Barclays Center in New York City was electrified by the presence of Bad Bunny. The arena, filled to its 19,000-person capacity, buzzed with anticipation as the Puerto Rican superstar kicked off the first show of his three-night stint in the city.
“New York has been very important in my career, where dreams come true,” Benito told his fans in his native Spanish during the performance. “Being on the tour feels really amazing, going to each place and seeing it, all the cities, but New York, it’s something else. It feels more amazing than usual. Seeing all those PR and DR flags makes it even more special. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here, it means a lot to me.”
Bad Bunny — who wore Prada sunglasses, a velour suit, and a gold cross necklace — delivered a dynamic performance that was an amalgamation of music and spectacle. It included a grand orchestra, an equestrian entrance, a surprise appearance by Bryant Myers to perform “Seda,” a jigsaw-like stage that transformed into the Brooklyn Bridge, and, of course, a repertoire of his biggest hits. (Here’s the complete setlist of the tour, which slightly changed to add “Amorfoda” and “Tití Me Preguntó.”)
This was part of his Most Wanted Tour — in support of his Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana album — which kicked off on Feb. 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Live Nation-promoted tour is halfway through its schedule, with forthcoming performances in cities including Austin, Texas (Apr. 26-27), Atlanta, Ga. (May 14-15), and Miami, Fla. (May 24-26). See the full dates here.
According to Billboard Boxscore, the tour has already been a commercial success, grossing $84.2M and selling 282K tickets over its first 18 shows. It has consistently sold out venues, demonstrating Bad Bunny’s continued widespread appeal.
Here are five standout moments from the first night of Bad Bunny’s Most Wanted Tour at the Barclays Center:
The Grandeur of an Orchestra
The tiaras were overflowing at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles on Tuesday night (Nov. 14). An ecstatic, sold-out crowd came together to witness the latest stop of Chappell Roan‘s U.S. tour, where the rising pop star performed the entirety of her Dan Nigro-produced debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. Decked […]
On Tuesday night, Charlie Puth was just grateful to be with an audience instead of his phone screen.
“It was good to be in front of TikTok for two years, but there’s nothing like doing this in front of real, live people,” he told the rapt and energetic audience at New York City’s Beacon Theatre. The pop star and, yes, bona fide TikTok sensation, was in the City That Never Sleeps for the second show of his just-launched One Night Only tour supporting his new album Charlie.
Earlier this month, Puth teased how the tour of more intimate venues came together as a sort of post-pandemic testing of the waters in an interview with Billboard‘s Pop Shop Podcast. “I’ll say what no artist will ever say: I did not know where I stood as a touring artist,” he explained. “We got through a worldwide pandemic — I thought, at one point, my career as a touring artist was over. I had no idea…It has been, like, a couple of years since I had something on Billboard. Like, where did I stand as a touring artist?”
With a set re-creating the singer’s kooky, musically ingenious interior world depicted on the cover of Charlie, no opening act, and a sold-out crowd of superfans going haywire for every song in his repertoire, Puth proved once and for all that he can stand alone, having come into his own as a confident, goofy and pitch-perfect pop star of his own making.
Below, Billboard rounds up the best moments from Charlie’s One Night Only show in New York City.
Charlie (Don’t) Be Quiet!
There was perhaps no more exhilarating way for Puth to kick off his show than with “Charlie Be Quiet!,” the raucous, shout-it-out anthem that gave the New Jersey native the chance to rock the mic as he playfully wailed, “Charlie, be quiet, don’t make a sound/ You got to lower the noise a little bit now/ If she knows you’re in love, she’s gonna run, run away-ay-ay-ay.”
Tears on Charlie’s Piano
Though he’d opened the tour two nights before with a hometown show at Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey, Puth chose New York City as the place to live-debut Charlie deep cut “Tears on My Piano.”
Seated behind his trusty upright piano and bathed in red light, the singer looked like he was having the time of his life belting out the melodic, lovelorn anthem. And even though he’d never performed the track onstage before, the electrified crowd made it immediately clear they had put in their time listening to the studio version by singing along to every single word.
Charlie’s “Extraordinary” Advice
After revealing how the sound of a creaky door hinge led to the creation of Charlie album closer “No More Drama” and running through hit single “Left and Right” (sans BTS’ Jung Kook), “Loser” (“a bit of a self-deprecating anthem, which I think we all need sometimes”) and The Hills-inspired highlight “Smells Like Me,” Puth took a moment to offer his fans a piece of heartfelt encouragement.
“I want all of you — if you take anything out of this night tonight — rather than just watching me perform these songs, which you totally, of course, can do, I know all of you in here are capable of doing something extraordinary in the arts field,” he told his screaming fan base. “What you think is mundane and what you experience every day of your life is extraordinary. You should paint a picture about it, you should write a song about it. That’s how I literally wrote this whole album.”
Charlie Needs You to “Stay”
One fun fact some casual fans may not know is that Puth penned Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI’s Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 2021 collaboration “Stay,” which has remained on the chart for a stunning 63 weeks and counting. After showing off some impressively candid piano chops and spilling some tea about how Peter Cetera’s music and other “’80s power bops” sparked the song’s hook, the songwriter made the No. 1 hit his own by transforming it into a pulsing, midtempo piano ballad.
Charlie Takes It to Church
While Puth closed the show with an encore of 2015’s “See You Again” and played all the old favorites like “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” “Attention,” “BOY” and “Done for Me,” the most powerful moment of the evening came when he dusted off his 2015 sophomore single “One Call Away.”
“No matter where you go, know you’re not alone/ I’m only one call away/ I’ll be there to save the day/ Superman got nothing on me/ I’m only one call away,” he crooned at the piano, taking the Beacon Theatre to church in a massive, chill-inducing sing-along.
A Harry Styles concert is what Beatlemania must have felt like.
For the 17,000 people at the singer’s opening Love on Tour concert in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Oct. 23) — many of whom were certainly not alive in the 1960s — the eardrum-rupturing screams and cries as the 28-year-old superstar walked on stage brought up a sweet nostalgia for the rock n’ roll days of the past.
Dressed in an orange and white suit, embellished with sparkling palm trees, Styles introduced his 15-night run at the Kia Forum with the Harry’s House fan favorite, “Daydreaming.”
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The Grammy winner then delivered an hour-and-a-half set list (below) of career-spanning hits, from his debut album’s “Kiwi” and Fine Line‘s “Adore You” to his third studio LP’s hits like “Music for a Sushi Restaurant,” “Cinema,” “Late Night Talking” and many more. While the set lists have evolved over Styles’ tours, one thing remains the same — the glitter-dressed fans singing every word so loud that you can barely hear Harry, waving their feather boas in the air and dancing freely with their fellow concert attendees.
Notably, Styles didn’t perform the Harry’s House track, “Boyfriends,” but thankfully, opening act Ben Harper took on the poignant ballad, as he played guitar on the original recording. “I’ve recorded in a lot of different environments with a lot of different people, and this stands out as one of the most exciting and gratifying sessions I’ve ever done,” Harper told Billboard of recording the track. “[Songwriter] Kid Harpoon and Harry, they were very patient. We went in and kept throwing ideas and, finally, I just tried one idea that really stuck.”
“I try not to put expectations on a crowd, lay them all on my shoulders. I walk up there and just give everything. Be well enough rehearsed to have a lot of fun,” Harper added of his set, which also featured both his children joining him onstage to perform. “It’s got to be fun or I should be doing something else.”
Styles wrapped up his high-energy set with a jam-packed encore, and with two songs left of the show, the singer noticed a couple heading out of the arena to try and beat the Los Angeles traffic. “We’re not finished! Go back!” Styles jokingly shouted at them, and the duo (now on the jumbotron) followed the star’s orders and went back to their chairs. “We’ve got two songs left, back to your seats! We can see you sneaking out. I’m not done!”
And while the playful interaction, of course, was just a display of Styles’ goofy sense of humor, his declaration of “I’m not done” struck a chord as he delved straight into his 15-week Billboard Hot 100 chart topper, “As It Was.” For Styles, singing to sold-out crowds in the country’s biggest and most iconic arenas, it’s clear that nothing is, in his own words, “the same as it was.” His career is also the furthest thing from “done.” In fact, it’s just the beginning for Harry Styles.
See Styles’ full set list below, and check out how to snag tickets for his upcoming Los Angeles shows here.
DaydreamingGoldenAdore YouDaylightKeep DrivingMatildaLittle FreakSatelliteCinemaMusic for a Sushi RestaurantTreat People With KindnessWhat Makes You BeautifulLate Night TalkingWatermelon SugarLove of My Life
Encore:Sign of the TimesMedicineAs It WasKiwi
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