Words by: Allie Samborn
Photos by: Brendan Lee
Tuesday March 1, 2016 – Hiphop fans of all ages flooded the Vogue Theatre last night for the sold out Vince Staples show. Though the crowd had energy that was through the roof from the second they came in the door, openers Grace Mitchell and Jay Worthy got the crowd completely lit even before Vince stepped out.
Despite Jay being technically an opener, it was pretty clear that some had come as much for him as the main event and he gave his opening spot all he had; packing in as many tracks as possible. He blazed through his set, ending with a heartfelt tribute to A$AP Yams and a performance of “Uza Trikk.”
Vince hit the stage, clearly ready to give the Vancouver fans the Vince-fix they’d been jonesing for. Blazing through hits like “Lift Me Up”, “65 Hunnid” and “Fire”, he paused only briefly to address his rocking, obedient crowd before plunging into “Birds and Bees.” Purring through “Loca”, Vince slowed it down with his “special song for the girls” before taking this moment to speak a bit of his mind. Along with the rest of the music and celebrity world, Vince touched on politically charged global events of late by bellowing the question “Who is from Vancouver and does NOT fuck with the police?” multiple times. Giving him a raucous chant to set his next songs against, he s
pun fittingly into “Hands Up” and “Street Punks.”
“Surf” saw him set the mood were he asked “everyone with a phone to put it up. But if it’s not an iPhone, that’s some weird shit and you’re not welcome!” and gave him a fully lit auditorium to play to. The few people that had begun to stream out onto Granville Street slammed back into the doors as the opening lines of “Norf, Norf” blared from the stage and Vince happily jumped into what was clearly one of the most anticipated tracks of the night. Returning to spit the lines of “Blue Suede” as an encore with as much energy as he had at the beginning of the show, it’s no question why Vince’s show sold out. Vince rocked a tight set, packed with his new beats and older classics and though he asked (and asked, and asked and asked) if the crowd was tired, he was on, lit and tearing it up the entire night. If he keeps this up, Vince Staples will no doubt sell out his next trip to Vancouver.
