Despite tour cancellation, Shy Glizzy performs for his hometown
By Joulisa Francis
Earlier this month D.C. rapper Shy Glizzy announced his world tour after the release of his new album, “Flowers.” However, he got in trouble with the law later that same month, resulting in his arrest on a felony charge. Upon looking at the news, his shows in different states slowly got canceled. All except his show on May 26th at the Fillmore, in his hometown of Maryland.
As I approached the venue, I was still hesitant if the show was actually going to happen. I quickly made in through security and was thrusted into a room of fans waiting anxiously, waiting if he was going to show. Suddenly, an opener by the name of Joony appears, seemingly calming the crowd of fans searching for any indication. Although Joony exhibited great stage presence by constantly speaking and interacting with the crowd, the crowd seemed to not reciprocate the energy.
This could be due to the fact Joony’s music is more mellow style of rap compared to the upbeat rhythms of Shy Glizzy. As I looked around, the audience stayed motionless as more of his songs such as, “Misery” and “I’m in Love,” played. Despite this, he maintained his positive energy and continued moving along the stage. Throughout his set, his crew and friends would come out on stage with him and dance along with his rap melodies. Although they seemed to be enjoying themselves, it did not add to the experience of the concert with more fans becoming impatient while waiting for the main act. He played more of his upbeat songs such as, “Drifting in Tokyo'' and “WYA,” which got the crowd dancing along with the other performers. After around an hour, he thanked the crowd for listening and left room for the other DJs to continue the set while waiting for Shy Glizzy.
Around 2 hours later, his DJ finally announced Shy Glizzy was here. The crowd erupted into cheers and chants as he approached the stage. “They said Shy Glizzy fell off…” He announced as he began rapping along to the song “The Real is Back,” one of his recent music releases. His stage presence was prominent as he faced the crowd rapping his popular hits like “Awesome,” “Hamiliton” and his verse of the song “Crew.” He kept a positive attitude as he thanked the crowd repeatedly for being responsive and energetic to his songs.
Although I did not know the majority of the songs on the setlist, I found myself dancing and rapping along with Shy Glizzy since his enthusiasm was contagious. He glided along the stage, dancing and constantly interacting with his audience. His setlist was also an excellent selection as the entire concert was high energy, with a mixture of iconic songs longterm fans remember and upbeat songs from his new album. His set lasted approximately an hour, but it did not feel like a rushed experience. What I appreciated the most was for his popular songs he played longer, some in its entirety. This may not sound ideal, however I noticed recently at concerts a lot of artists play shorter clips of their songs to make more room for many songs on the setlist. However, by Shy Glizzy allowing the songs to play the audience can ease into the music more instead of being thrown multiple different songs and beats within mere minutes.
Shy Glizzy ended his show with his now platinum certified song, “White Girl.” The crowd rapped along to every lyric of the song, at some points the DJ cut off the audio for fans to get their moment to shine. Shy Glizzy again, thanked his crowd and showed tremendous love for his hometown. He yells his signature line: “Glizzy Gang!” before exiting the stage for his fan meet and greet. Although it is disappointing how fans outside the state of Maryland could not experience Shy Glizzy’s show, he proved himself to be a great performer and I am excited to see what his next tour entails… if it does not get canceled again.