Post Malone, at T-mobile, gives his all, and his fans get him
A comment on a social media post about Post Malone over the weekend noted, “I just don’t get him.”
And that may be true for one commenter, but the self-described “genre-less” artist seems to have struck a chord with the masses who do get him, listen to him, purchase his music consistently and push his songs onto Billboard’s Top 100 .
Friday, he brought his “Twelve Carat Tour” to a jampacked T-mobile Arena and followed it up with an appearance at Zouk Nightclub at Resorts World Las Vegas.
At the T-mobile concert, the stage featured three runways that protruded out into the audience. Fans who had tickets next to any of those three runways were able to exchange high-fives with and get a close-up look at the artist, who throughout the evening gladly interacted with them while performing a bevy of his hits.
And it didn’t take long for Malone to launch into his bestknown works. His second song of the night was “Wow,” his 2019 hit that rocketed to No. 2 and spent 44 weeks on the charts.
“I Like You (A Happier Song),” a cut from his latest album, “Twelve Carat Toothache,” was next minus Doja Cat joining in as she did on the studio version. Malone, who admits to being more than a bit nervous before live performances, clearly had settled in during the song, accepting a bouquet of flowers from a fan, smiling, dancing, waving his arms and generally enjoying himself.
By the time he sang “Better Now” five songs into the concert, fans were fully immersed, singing and dancing along with Malone. The outpouring led him to profusely thank the crowd for its warm reception. “Thank you so very (expletive) much, ladies and gentlemen,” Malone said, using a profanity that generally isn’t associated with an expression of appreciation. But he was so sincere, few would take offense — and he continued heaping the same praise on the audience throughout the night.
His first No. 1 hit of the night, 2018’s “Psycho,” came six songs into the song. It wasn’t the last.
He sprinkled his other No. 1 hits — “Circles,” “Rockstar” and “Sunflower” throughout the remainder of the concert, which at times included pyrotechnic blasts, balls of fire, flashing lights and an oversized video board behind the stage that mostly focused on the artist.
“Circles,” another 2019 hit that continues to earn extensive radio play, was, perhaps, the highlight of the night. He began the song on acoustic guitar, singing several verses before ditching the instrument and transitioning back to the surround system accompaniment. The audience, again, loved it.
The concert wasn’t in the same league as stadium-style performances where members of the band are all over the stage, with guitar and drum solos breaking out midsong. Instead it was Malone, by himself, with the acoustic guitar out for a mere couple of songs. Otherwise, he was singing to his music tracks.
But for those 90 or so minutes that he was onstage, Malone gave the audience what it wanted: A good time and his hits.
And from the ovations throughout the night, it was clear that was enough — the audience got him.