By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
DALLAS — If Lil Uzi Vert had one wish in life, it would be to gain the respect of their peers.
That — as well as an outpouring of love to fans — was made known during the Philadelphia rapper’s first stop in Texas as part of the Pink Tape Tour on Wednesday in the South Side Ballroom. Between raging mosh pits, Lil Uzi Vert told the standing-room-only crowd that they have been fixated on gaining respect in the rap game, but they also owe everything to their fans.
“You want to know something?” Lil Uzi Vert asked the crowd. “I love you. You want to know something else? I love you more. Y’all want to know one more thing? Nobody loves y’all like I love y’all.”
Lil Uzi Vert appeared to keep trolling the crowd by asking, “You want to know one more thing?” But the genre-blending rapper kept the show moving by telling the DJ to play “Buy It” — one of their most popular unreleased tracks.
Outside of that moment and a few other in-between periods, Lil Uzi Vert — who has over 31 million monthly listeners on Spotify — kept the crowd captivated the entire night. The set list had “Pink Tape” all over it, which makes sense given the tour is solely for the artist’s third studio album, which was released on June 30.
There have been rumors swirling that Lil Uzi Vert has had to cancel or move shows because they can’t fill out arenas. The 28-year-old rapper was quick to squash that narrative, yelling out, “You don’t get energy like this in arenas,” about four or five songs into the concert.
While the crowd was standing room only by definition, there was absolutely no extra space for comfort, as the ballroom was jam-packed with people. Mosh pits are never for the weak, but the energy on Wednesday was through the roof.
The show started with DJ PForReal, who’s Lil Uzi Vert’s official DJ. He set the tone by playing some popular hip-hop tracks to get the crowd warmed up. From Yeat and Drake’s “IDGAF” to Playboi Carti’s “Magnolia,” DJ PForReal did his job of buying Lil Uzi Vert time before they made their way to the stage.
Despite not showing up until nearly 9:30 p.m., Lil Uzi Vert popped out and got the crowd jumping with a quickness. “Suicide Doors” riled things up, and the intoxicating beat and outlandish rage appeal made this a crowd favorite.
Lil Uzi Vert followed the rage wave that artists like Playboi Carti and Yeat have established over the last two to three years with “Pink Tape.” Tracks like “Aye” featuring Travis Scott, “Crush Em” and “Amped” followed suit, with bumping 808s and irresistible head-bumping sounds.
Lil Uzi Vert made sure to keep the set list balanced between “Pink Tape” content and older material, telling fans early on that they were going to “switch eras” throughout the night. That came to fruition when Lil Uzi Vert went into their SoundCloud rapping days.
“Money Longer” and “Do What I Want” were played from those mixtape days, and those songs resonated just as well with the crowd as material dropped a few months ago. The only part of Lil Uzi Vert’s discography that didn’t get much love was “Eternal Atake” — their second studio album, which dropped right in March 2020.
“Pop” was the only song played from EA on Wednesday, leaving out bangers like “You Better Move,” “Homecoming” and “Bean.” Technically, Lil Uzi Vert exited the stage to “Myron,” which was on “Eternal Atake Deluxe,” but that was more of its own album. After all, it was literally titled “LUV vs. The World 2” as a follow-up to the previous mixtape that came out in 2016.
Lil Uzi Vert nearly hit all the marks in just over an hour of time on stage. It’s hard to ask an artist to perform a killer show that caters toward everyone’s favorite songs or eras, but Lil Uzi Vert did a stellar job playing tracks everyone wanted to hear and shifting from modern songs to throwbacks.
The Pink Tape Tour runs through Dec. 4, including a stop in Houston on Friday. Lil Uzi Vert finished a show in Austin on Thursday to hit the Texas trifecta of Dallas, Austin and Houston.
Lil Uzi Vert’s closing comments included confirmation that they’re going to give it their all on what is likely their final studio album, “Luv Is Rage 3.” There’s no timetable on its release, but Lil Uzi Vert has released a studio album every three years dating back to 2017.
