Live Review: The Kid LAROI End of The World Tour 2022
30 May 2022 at the RAC Arena
Words by Sheldon Ang
Photos by Sheldon Ang Photography
The lights start to fade, before beaming a Bloody Mary spectrum through the smoky air, followed by the reverberation of the booming bass propagating across the Arena. The one-two combination draws an unbridled frenzy not heard since 2019, as his name is chanted by a rap choir of fifteen thousand across the echo chamber adorned in a sea of mobile lights. As the hysteria reaches critical mass, the rapper darts across the stage and ascends onto the fifteen feet platform, channeling the imperious bravado and driving fans into the next level of psychosis, with every move looking like an reincarnated Bruce Lee against a horde of flies. For the next seventy minutes, The Kid LAROI of Waterloo, Sydney was the epicentre and the emotional sponge for the broken souls.
“First and foremost, thank you guys for f*cking being here tonight, look how f*cking beautiful this shit is…even the people in the stands all the way back are rapping…what the f*ck is that…this shit is beautiful. Thank you so much. I remember once that I had never been to Perth and I was scared as f*ck…and I was like, ‘maybe these people don’t know any of my songs…or know who I am’, and I swear to god that was the craziest crowd I ever had till this day. So being back here now and doing this feel so f*cking incredible, so thank you”.
From housing commission to riches, tonight’s performance would be the typical feel good ending of a television adaptation that’s based on a true story. As the saying goes, The Kid LAROI – now based in Los Angeles, is a once in a generation phenomenon, skyrocketing through the astral plane of this cut throat industry. Yet, in a recent interview with Channel 7, Charlton Howard (aka The Kid LAROI) admits he’s not comfortable with speaking (assuming in a crowd), thus writing and performing has become his form of expression…and boy, did he express tonight.
Following a short break, The Kid LAROI sparked his set with LET HER GO and DIVA. By the third track in SAME ENERGY, the eighteen-year-old removed his shirt and flicked ilnto the crowd; only a few would know if the “lucky” fan had survived the mad rush (but for the record, he/she was OK). The on stage frenetics were as fast weaving as the tracks themselves, while maintaining the vocal tempo throughout the set. Song after song, he criss cross the stage with the resolute of a Super Bowl half time entertainer.
Surprisingly, as it’s unsurprising, The Kid LAROI commands an eclectic fan base of both sexes, which is a testimony of his pure talent, not just for his good looks. While the average age among the crowd is probably in the late teens to the early twenties, he has seized the imagination of a widespread and eclectic demographic.
After all, his F*CK LOVE album explores the rapper’s views on the elements of growing up; heartbreak, love, regret and lost projected in the popular comeback category of “rap rock”, sometimes “emo rock” and beautiful ballads. TELL ME WHY is a heart wrenching track about his emotional aftermath following the death of his mentor Juice WRLD, and together with the poignant moment in GO – a collaboration with the late American rapper, the performance underlines the “show, not tell” tenet of a great performer. A few have thought that his death would have dented the career of TKL, but that’s not something that Juice WRLD would have wanted (as the saying goes) and he’d be smiling on the Kid from the stairs of heaven.
With the solid foundation during the infancy of his career, the prodigious talent has become a master in showcasing vibrancy and ethos in his vocals by propagating a controlled visceral outburst, and going bar for bar with the music and toe for toe with the DJ makes tonight a truly spectacular performance.
The night ended with two of the biggest songs to date by the teen. STAY (approaching 2 billion streams on Spotify alone) elevated the RAC Arena into the biggest rap karaoke. Critiques might infer the astronomical numbers were attributed to Justin Bieber, but that’s probably half true. STAY rose to number 1 on the US Billboard 100, along in twenty-two countries. It also won the song of the year at the APRA Music Awards of 2022, making The Kid LAROI the youngest person to earn the prestigious award. Given this earworm is the seminal piece of TKL’s chapter, this writer would have loved for an extended five-minute version tonight.
WITHOUT YOU was the other global hit which he also collaborated with a global giant from across the Pacific in the form of Miley Cyrus – although the solo version is more successful in streaming numbers. Just like latest single Thousand Miles, the tear jerker showcases TKL as an all rounder, an artist who’s able to connect with the capacity crowd through his malleable performance that undulates between oozing the inert vulnerability of a broken teen and swaying the sizzling swagger of a west side rapper.
Thank you Sony Music (Nick), Thinking Loud (Char), Handsome Tours and TEG Live for the opportunity.
Click here for info and tickets on the remaining End of the World Tour shows.
About the Author/Photographer: Since the pandemic, Sheldon Ang has written and photographed over 40 concert review and interviewed over 40 artists (including with members of Guns N Roses, KISS, Bon Jovi, INXS, Mortley Crue, etc), and was the Chief Photographer and Principal Writer of a music media platform (which has unfortunately been deleted from cyberspace!). He is also an Engineer by day, working on some of the state’s biggest project.
