Crowd-surfing fans console homegrown rapper Scott after Rockets loss
Travis Scott had a crowd waiting for him at Revention Music Center. But the Houston native first took in a Houston Rockets game early Thursday evening. Scott was at Toyota Center for Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals against San Antonio. He tried to hype up a light Rockets crowd before the game started.
The Rockets lost the game. But Scott took the Revention stage just after 10:30 p.m. like a champion. He was ready to blast off.
“If you can’t survive this (expletive) the front door is right there, right there, right there,” he warned while pointing to the exits.
The first several songs had the explosive energy of a rock concert and the bombast of an EDM show. It was loud. Louder than any show in recent memory.
Smoke shot up from the foot of the stage. Blue and purple lights raced across the venue. Oversized birdcages hung from trees. Dozens of cellphones were lifted high and bounced along with the music.
Scott grew up in Missouri City and attended Elkins High School. He was once a Rockets ball boy, which explains his loyalty to the team. He’s attended several Rockets games, including one in April with Kylie Jenner.
He designed a limited edition T-shirt for Thursday’s Western Conference semifinals game against San Antonio. Everyone in attendance received one.
The largely male crowd later that night immediately began jumping onstage and quickly diving back into the fray. Scott ordered the crowd to open up a mosh pit, and they immediately obliged.
He kept asking for his phone, then said he forgot why. Later, he asked for a beanie, which he briefly snapped over his head.
He zipped furiously through songs — “Way Back,” “Mamacita, “Uber Everywhere,” “90210” — with barely a break in between. Every song was caked thick with Auto Tune, a signature of Scott’s music.
Scott is ferocious onstage, a man possessed by the music and the energy. His shirt was off three songs into the set. He, and the crowd, barely seemed able to catch their breath.
A giant bird with glowing red eyes flapped its wings from behind a chain link fence to introduce “Beibs in the Trap,” which segued into “Sweet Sweet.”
A fan jumped onstage and helped him finish “3500.” Scott himself surfed out into the middle of the crowd for a couple of songs and was perched atop his giant bird for the final stretch, which included “Antidote” and “Gooosebumps,” which he broke out of for a quick a capella “Deep in the Heart of Texas.”
“I would’ve done a way bigger place but I’m going on tour with Kendrick Lamar,” Scott told the crowd. They perform July 15 at Toyota Center.
Expect that matchup to bring even bigger fireworks.
Joey.Guerra@chron.com Twitter.com/joeyguerra