Life can be a big blur, and in that blur, moments come into focus — a sharp, high-contrast kind of focus. The sight of neon lasers cutting through dark arenas. The sound of audiences scream-shouting hits like “Hotline Bling,” or “Passionfruit,” or “Nonstop,” or “One Dance.” The gigantic presence of one musician, standing in a spotlight beamed from a UFO hanging overhead.
This is what Drake brought to the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for two electric evenings of his It’s All a Blur tour’s “Big As a What?” leg on Saturday and Sunday: this larger-than-life entertainment from one of the biggest entertainers of all time. This excess of light and sound.
Much of it was, as expected, a blur.
Let’s check our notes: The backup dancers, encircling the singer with sultry moves — a Youngstown man who was slimed for some reason during “Slime You Out” — a real marching band, vibing on a set of metal bleachers — appearances from Cleveland natives Machine Gun Kelly and Doe Boy — a floating, drone-powered inflatable paper airplane — floating, drone-powered fairies — floating, drone-powered sperm.
And all that was just some of it.
On Sunday night’s stint Drake, co-headliner J. Cole and opener Lil Durk, hopped atop a raised light cube of a stage on the center of the floor to deliver performances to every corner of the venue. J. Cole's set was noticeably lower key, as an inflatable town sign of his hometown, Fayetteville, North Carolina, drifted above him during a strong mix of songs like "Love Yourz," "No Role Models" and "Middle Child," before he was rejoined onstage by Drake to together perform "In the Morning" and "First Person Shooter."
Most of it was here on this lit-up cube, except sometimes Drake also sang from a small shark tank dangling from the ceiling — or from a small stage designed to look like a high school locker room, adjacent to the marching band (a nod to his Degrassi days, perhaps).
(J. Cole performing at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse)
In Drake’s blur of a life, it’s clear the Canadian television show and his role of Jimmy Brooks made a big impact early-on. One that deserves mentioning, 16 years after the musician departed the show, after all the Grammys, record-breaking singles and online streams, massive tours and explosive fame.
Back in July, before the first date of the It’s All a Blur tour, Drizzy shared a video on social media recounting his Degrassi audition — revealing that he got high with a group of kids the day before. From that, he still experiences a little bit of paranoia, all these years later:
“I kind of wonder, like, if something bad happened that day or maybe I’m still high, maybe I’m in some coma, and this is just, like, me playing out my ideal life,” he says in the video. “That concept has stuck with me for a lot of years. I mean, it feels like reality, it feels tangible, but I definitely wonder sometimes.”
You wonder about reality, and the break from reality in this room — one that lasts from 8 p.m. until nearly midnight on Sunday night.
You watch him bounce around massive flames onstage, a burst of warmth felt across the arena, and yet so close to his skin — watch him really embrace Cole, an artist he’s known and worked with since he started releasing music more than a decade ago — watch numerous inflatable characters and props drift slowly through the air, in time with the music — watch him perform songs that we all know, that we’ve all heard a thousand times, and yet which still somehow sound new, in his first show in Northeast Ohio in more than a decade.
You just... wonder.
(Drake performing at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse)
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