Tyler, Vince Staples go big at Eagles Ballroom show
Tyler, The Creator and Vince Staples are no strangers to Milwaukee and the Rave.
But the rappers who played to a sold-out crowd at the Rave’s 3,500capacity Eagles Ballroom on Sunday, for the final night of a joint tour, were very different artists this time.
In Tyler’s case, his trademark, polarizing shock tactics have been scaled back for a more mature approach reflective of last year’s “Flower Boy,” his creative peak in the eyes of critics.
Opener Staples, meanwhile, delivered a powerful set that finally measured up to the gravity of his breakout album “Summertime ‘06” and last year’s equally adored “Big Fish Theory.”
For his 45-minute set, Staples performed in front of 60 monitors that served as video screens and blinding light displays, with each screen capable of rotating in every possible direction.
Combined with fog and dramatic lighting towers, the set-up created a striking thunderstorm effect for “Rain Come Down.”
The largely black-and-white footage — jumping from news clips to close-ups of rushing water, to an execution, to a game of billiards and so on — formed a mix of clear and incongruous patterns, creating a constant sense of unease.
It was fitting given the material. During “BagBak,” which opened the set, Staples angrily rallied against the powerful and wealthy. “Senorita,” from “Summertime,” painted a bleak picture of being a “crab in a bucket,” informed by the harsh conditions growing up poor in Compton and North Long Beach, Calif. “Smile” addressed Staples’ relatively new success, but acknowledges that he still hasn’t found happiness.
Also fitting for the unsettling set was Staples’ wardrobe choice — a bulletproof vest.
For his 75-minute headlining set, Tyler also presented the most elaborate staging of his career, with a handsomely lit, toppled tree that served as an additional platform.
While Staples’ production added to his set’s intensity, Tyler’s more sentimental set-up served to create some jarring contrasts.
A twinkling star backdrop glowed during “IFHY,” which violently jerked between smitten love ballad and disturbed obsessive fantasy.
And Tyler looked like a character in a feel-good Spielberg flick during “November,” taking a knee at the base of that tree, backlit in warm orange — but it’s a sad song, sentimental for a simpler time that can never come again.
There also was a pretty stark contrast between the Tyler witnessed Sunday and the Tyler on previous tours. The excited crowd still sang along to the choruses for early set numbers “Where This Flower Blooms” and “Boredom,” both from “Flower Boy,” and both mellower tunes compared to the typical, thumping Tyler set openers.
There was an eight-song stretch of earlier material at the midpoint, with Tyler busting out with dance moves and booming verses during the anxious “911/Mr. Lonely” and the profane, misogynistic “Tamale” — but he was still noticeably tamer.
For the final eight songs, Tyler focused exclusively on “Flower Boy,” and his passion for the new material, and the audience’s energy, came to a head with “I Ain’t Got Time!,” with the spastic rapper, voice cracking, leaping all over the stage while a blinding barrage of lights overshadowed that towering tree.
In that moment, the new Tyler looked a lot like the old Tyler.