Things got wet and wild in Tampa last night — and not necessarily in a good way.
On Thursday, the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre played host to some of hip-hop’s more colorful personalities in Wiz Khalifa and Rae Sremmurd. While both did their best to make the most of a soaked and on-edge crowd, the night could best be summarized with a millennial-coined “meh.”
Intense lightning and rain greeted the sparse crowd which arrived early for pedestrian opening acts O.T. Genasis and Lil Skies who, at best, were a mildly exciting addition to the concert lineup. The dark clouds would break up enough around sunset to give the amp a cool glow, but they would hover in the background throughout the night, displaying a spectacular show of lightning. At times it was so dazzling that it even commanded the attention of the MCs on stage, in particular Rae Sremmurd, who took the stage right at 8 p.m.
“Look at the lightning,” Swae Lee said after an exceptionally loud and long jolt shot across the sky. “That shit go hard as fuck.”
As evidenced by previous stops in Tampa Bay, including opening for the Weeknd at Amalie in 2017, we know Rae Sremmurd can put on a show. Within minutes both members had shed their shirts and were flying around the crowded stage, which featured a large white depository truck and palm trees for props. On Thursday, however, their high-energy charm was seemingly wasted at the Amphitheatre, a venue that can turn any Autotuned act into a mess when the sound escapes the stage in all directions.
As they ran through a barrage of top radio hits (“No Type,” “No Flex Zone,” “Swang”), Swae Lee’s croon, which leans heavily on digital assistance, was mostly indistinguishable. Whereas the two usually thrive on their playful exchange of bars and singing, last night it came off as messy and ultimately frustrating. On “CLOSE,” one of the chart-toppers from May’s SR3MM, Travis Scott’s backing track chorus playing on the loudspeakers was essentially the only tangible vocal to be heard. It’s hard to knock the guys when they’re so engaging and energetic, especially with their fans, but Thursday night was simply not their best showing.
Where the opening acts left much to be desired, the night’s lone jolt (aside from the erratic lightning) came from headliner, Wiz Khalifa.
PHOTOS
Wiz Khalifa, Rae Sremmurd and Lil Skies rock with 10,000 Tampa fans
By the time his 9:30 p.m. set approached, the lawn had been long-abandoned. The green space's previous tenants packed the aisles and remaining seats in the back sections of the amphitheatre, which could easily accommodate the influx of people due to it being previously half-vacant (10,000 people attended the show, according to venue officials).
The show opened with a brief visual accompaniment of Wiz showing off his Muay Thai skills — a new passion that helped the Pittsburgh-rapper put on over 30 pounds — before he took the stage sporting a backwards hat and baggy white T-shirt.
“Smells like fucking weed out there,” said the 30-year-old, who after a few songs ditched the shirt to show off his freshly minted six-pack and now-chiseled physique. The always-chipper Wiz manned the stage solo for the first few tracks, which predominantly stuck to material from last month’s underwhelming Rolling Papers 2 before giving in to the crowd’s yearning for hits like “Black and Yellow” and “We Dem Boyz.”
Wiz would keep with this pattern of mixing in hits with new material throughout the night, segueing the middle part of the show with brief duets featuring openers Lil Skies and Swae Lee. His onstage charisma and ability to add grit to the tasteful use of Autotune made the difference on a night where it was hard for the other acts to maintain that crowd energy.
Hip-hop shows are notorious for being hit-or-miss in terms of quality, but due to the merit these acts have shown the Bay area before, we’ll blame this one on the dampening effects of our summer showers. We’re looking forward to brighter days, better weather and hopefully less Autotune when Wiz, Skies and Rae Sremmurd visit again, and hope all the acts get a shot at redemption by returning to the Bay area soon.
See more photos from the show here.
This article appears in Aug 16-23, 2018.