Backstage Pass

Volume 2 Issue 1 Article 8

2019

Travis Scott's Astroworld Tour

Prajeet Sandhu University of the Pacific, [email protected]

Prajeet Sandhu (2019) is pursuing a degree from the Eberhardt School of Business at University of the Pacific.

This article was written as part of the curriculum for the Bachelor of Music in Music Management and the Bachelor of Science in Music Industry Studies at University of the Pacific. Each student conducted research based on his or her own areas of interest and study. To learn more about the program, visit: go.pacific.edu/musicindustry All images used from album covers are included under the Fair Use provision of U.S. Copyright law and remain the property of their respective copyright owners. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/backstage-pass

Part of the Arts Management Commons, Audio Arts and Acoustics Commons, Music Education Commons, Musicology Commons, Music Pedagogy Commons, Music Performance Commons, Other Music Commons, and the Radio Commons

Recommended Citation Sandhu, Prajeet (2019) "Travis Scott's Astroworld Tour," Backstage Pass: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1 , Article 8. Available at: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/backstage-pass/vol2/iss1/8

This Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Conservatory of Music at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Backstage Pass by an authorized editor of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Sandhu: Travis Scott's Astroworld Tour

Travis Scott’s Astroworld Tour

By Prajeet Sandhu

On 12/15/2018 I attended Travis Scott’s Astroworld Tour at the Golden 1 Center in

Sacramento, California. Concert goers were excited and anticipating to rage with Scott because

he is such an energetic performer. The venue was neat because the Golden 1 Center is a brand

new arena in the heart of downtown Sacramento. Doors opened at 6:30 p.m. and the opening acts

did not begin performing until 7:30 p.m. The opening acts for Scott were a young rapper from

Harlem, New York named Sheck Wes who has a very famous single called, “Mo Bamba,” and

another young rapper from Atlanta, Georgia, named Gunna. As my sister and I found our seats

around 7 p.m., the lights in the arena were all on and there was a constant background noise

being played, similar to a deep growling.

Finally, the arena turned dark, and the audience began hooting and hollering once they

heard Sheck Wes’s howl. Wes does this thing where he likes to howl like a dog and he came

skipping out on stage and started jumping all around. He did a fantastic job at engaging the

crowd. After performing his set, he thanked Sacramento for the warm welcome and walked off

the stage. The lights came back on and the same growling background noise began playing once

again. We waited for about half an hour when the lights went dark again and out came Gunna.

Gunna began performing a few of his slow rap songs and then slowly started getting into his

faster more upbeat songs. After he finished performing, he signed off and the lights came back

on yet again, accompanied by that same growling piano noise.

Before I begin speaking about Travis’s performance and how it began I would like to

paint the setting inside the arena. I sat in the middle section of the arena and on my left hand side

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there was a mini roller coaster that had a single seat and was on its own stage. On my right hand

side, there was a larger stage with a huge screen behind it. About an hour after Gunna finished

his set, a promotional video began playing on the large screen on my right-hand-side. The video

looked kind of creepy then all of a sudden Travis Scott’s eerie, tension-building “Stargazing”

began playing and the audience’s attention shifted to the left-hand-side where Scott sprouted up

from underneath the stage. Flames were being shot from the stage along with these machines that

blew out large amounts of smoke. The next song that began playing was “Carousel.” Scott went

to the single seat and buckled himself in. As the song began building in tension, the roller

coaster began going up and up. The roller coaster was built to go upside down and Scott would

go all the way around where at one point he was suspended in the air hanging down. As the song

transitioned into an up-tempo beat, everyone in the arena was jumping out of their seats while

Scott was raging in his seat. The next songs that were played included: “Way back,” “Lose,”

“Butterfly Effect,” “Mamacita,” and “No Bystanders.” Instead of talking individually about each

and every one of these songs I would like to note one overarching theme in regards to all of

them. They were all very uptempo energetic tunes that kept the crowd on their feet the entire

time!

The mood of the concert then shifted from uptempo to slow and emotional. The songs

that set this emotional mood included, “Stop Trying to Be God,” “Love Galore,” and

“Skeletons.” Scott kept these emotionally charged songs short and then the concert shifted to

more of a relaxed vibe with songs such as “NC-17,” “Dark Night Dummo,” “Drugs, You Should

Try It,” “Skyfall,” “Zeze,” “Through the Late Night,” “Yosemite,” “90210,” and “R.I.P. Screw.”

After this, the songs shifted to a mix of both Scott’s earlier and newer works. These songs

consisted of “5% tint,” “Can’t Say,” “Don’t Play,” “Quintana,” “Uptown,” “Upper Echelon,”

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“Astrothunder,” “Beibs in the Trap,” “Houstonfornication,” “Piss On Your Grave,” “Antidote,”

“Goosebumps,” and he finished it off with “Sicko Mode.” Something notable was the fact that

Scott really gave his all to his fans. The crowd at this concert was predominantly young and

everyone knew every single song and sang along. The ages spanned from teens to those that

were in their late twenties. There were many concert goers smoking weed to liven up their

concert experience but my sister and I didn’t need any of that to enjoy the concert.

This was hands down the best concert I’ve ever been to because of the energy in the

arena and the fact that Scott poured his all into every single song. Additionally, something that I

believe sets Scott’s performances apart from anybody else are his visuals. There were roller

coasters, a large astronaut blow up, and flames and confetti constantly shooting from the stage.

The fans looked so joyful and by the end of the show, I didn’t feel as if the audience wanted him

to continue performing because I think we all felt that he put his all into the performance.

Ultimately, I do believe the ticket price was worth it because the experience was like no other

concert! The sound effects, visuals, and atmosphere combined gave this concert the feel of one

for the ages!

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