Words & Pics By: Noah Herzog
Live Review: Tory Lanez with Dkay, Juvi
Dizzle, DJ Seko.
Location: Alexander(Vancouver)
Tory Lanez, the Canadian born independent rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer from Toronto filled the Alexander on Thursday February 20th for a show that everyone will certainly remember. Performing some of his biggest hits such as “Know What’s Up” and “The Godfather,” he quickly had every fan in the venue getting air time from the ground. But the night really took off before he even hit the stage, as opening acts Juvi Dizzle and Dkay set the bar high, and paved the way for one of the most hype concerts seen in years.
The Alexander’s doors opened at 9:00 pm, and the beautiful venue quickly began to fill up. Dim lights, lit candles and hanging chandeliers gave the space a special feel. Rather than your typical venue, the Alexander made the show feel less like an event, and more like a house party. Just after 11:00, the first performer Juvi Dizzle hit the small stage and with his energy, money rained down on the audience, literally. Everything between 20’s to 100 dollar bills were thrown carefree into the crowd multiple times, turning the audience into some some sort of turn-up animals. With this came a solid set from Dkay, leading up to the crazy set from the star Tory Lanez…which the crowd was certainly ready for.
The 20-minute break after Dkay finished his set was the perfect opportunity for everyone to spend their scattered floor money on drinks before Tory hit the stage. Now with everybody’s turn-up meter on 10, it was time for the peak performance. Starting out with the perfect song “The Mission,” Tory quickly had the fans in shock. Unreal amounts of energy coming from both the artist and the speaker system, it was hard not to feel the music flowing right through you. Looking around the room, it was clear that Tory knew how to connect with his audience. Every set of eyes was stuck on him, and every set of feet were bouncing in sync on his command.
A few quick but deep speeches to the crowd made the show seem very personal. However, there was one speech that highlighted the night. A very real and in-depth talk about the loss of his mother and the absence of his father at a young age had the whole place silent as he spoke. This was the moment where the show quickly became the night to remember. Many in the audience had never seen such a real performance like this before: the stress and anger in his words over his childhood experience transformed from a speech into the two most powerful performances of the toughest song choices of the night, “The Godfather” and “Diego”. It was incredible to go from such a speech to chanting out “They call me Tony Montana,” and that moment changed the whole direction of the show – shout out to Tory on that one.
Near the end of the event, it became very apparent to that there were no major flaws of the show. The crowd would probably have loved to have him on stage for a little longer but besides that, Tory’s overall performance seemed too good to be true. The amazing venue, vibes, and all the performances have brought me to realize that this was the dopest
show I have seen in a long time and I know that the fans look forward to having Tory back to Vancouver.