My decision to not bring a coat to the A$AP Rocky concert on Jan. 9 seemed reasonable until I found myself in an hour and a half freezing cold line circling UIC Pavillion.

Rocky came out to perform at 11:30 p.m. wearing a crash dummy mask and Air Jordans. To introduce him, two people dressed up as crash dummies held signs that gave us directions on what to do when he came out (“smile” “frown” “moshpit” “applaud”). The first song performed was “ASAP Forever,” with him banging on huge metal barrels covered with caution tape synchronised to the drums of the beat.  This song was his first single released in 2018 that was also on his album “TESTING.”

One thing that was incredible from that night was the set for the stage and the design.  There was one main stage and then that stage led out to a smaller stage that resembled a smiley face. When “Gunz N Butter” was performed, a gigantic curtain covering the main stage fell to the ground and three retro-looking cars started lowering from the ceiling with Rocky bouncing and rapping on the middle one.

A$AP Rocky had an undeniably great interaction with the audience. He would reach out to girls and hold their hand, point to specific people in the audience, and asked to borrow one of the crowd members bandannas which anyone in their right mind would give him. Once he got a bandanna, Rocky tied it under his chin like a Polish grandmother and played his unreleased song “Babushka.”  Nobody knew the lyrics but it didn’t matter because everyone was jumping around and raving.

Rocky also had to give a tribute to his recently passed best friend and coworker ASAP Yams, who died in 2015 from a drug overdose.  He crouched on the front of the smiley face stage and and gave a moment of silence before going into the next song. Also, the fake money that was shot out into the crowd had Yam’s face on it and said, “Always Strive and Prosper.”

Smooky MarGielaa and Playboi Carti both opened for A$AP Rocky.  However the wait between Carti and Rocky was well over an hour. This pushed the concert to end at a little over 1 a.m.

A$AP Rocky put on one amazing show.  The effects, the interaction, the performance, and the cheap tickets starting at $37.50 made for an incredible atmosphere.