A$AP Rocky’s ‘Don’t Be Dumb’ Concert Review

Did it live up to the hype? 

As someone who has attended a decent number of concerts in my 18 years of life, this was the most enjoyable. Everyone has different opinions on how they rank a concert, but for me, I rank it on familiarity of the music, technicality, and overall atmosphere.

To me, as a music lover and concert connoisseur, when I say I base my experience on the familiarity of the music, I mean: is it recognizable? The concert I attended was during the DONT BE DUMB tour at the Chase Center in San Francisco, which can roughly seat about 19,500 people. For me, it would be a little odd for the artist I’m seeing, with almost 20,000 other people, to play a whole show full of songs from before they were even known. Like, yes, some people may know the song, but will the majority of the audience be able to enjoy it and sing along?

I also base it on the technicality, like the stage and what props and decorations are there to enhance the performance. Song transitions are a big thing for me in the technicality portion. Lastly, the thing I do to determine if the concert is enjoyable is pay attention to the atmosphere:

is the crowd engaged? Is everybody hype when they need to be hype? Is the vibe the artist set at the beginning of the concert understood and conveyed?

To me, A$AP hit all these points with his concert. At the beginning of the concert, the lights started to flash, and you could hear helicopter noises, and you didn’t understand what was going on. Then the helicopter came, and you could see him fly down to the crowd and start a “riot,” essentially, which is really a tribute to one of his songs on the DON’T BE DUMB album.

In my opinion, when the artist interacts with the crowd, it makes it seem more intimate. During the concert, he would often take breaks and talk to the crowd.

When A$AP would talk to the crowd, he used clever wordplay to move the audience into smooth song transitions. The transitions were also formed around some of the actual beats of his songs, which made everything seem technically sound. He even acknowledged the nosebleed seats, which in my experience doesn’t happen often. Midway through, he brought a fan on stage, which really made the crowd engaged and excited to see him go bar for bar with a fan. When he played around 2 or 3 of his more “underground” songs, a good group of people sang along, which even I, as someone who has been a fan for maybe 2 or 3 years, knew. He also used many props as well and used the colors of the lights to engage the audience with his work.

Overall, A$AP was the most enjoyable because, to me, he had great technicality, recognizability, and familiarity at his concert. The way he interacted with fans and thought out his set was well planned out and detailed. If I could do it all over, I would, and I would suggest that if A$AP is your guy, go to one of his concerts no matter where you sit. It is a musical masterpiece and a fun experience.