Gianni & Kyle:

Starting off the “Hanging with Hoodie” tour in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, November 1^st, 2018 was the upcoming duo Gianni & Kyle. The two provided the audience with a 30-45-minute set that was destined to get the energy established and pumping in time for Hoodie Allen to hit the stage. That being said, let’s look into what made this set spark that energy for the evening. From the moment that the duo hit the stage, the “Gianni & Kyle” brand was evident through the simplistic instrumental music that sounded through a DJ setup as well as the background display the faded through different images, but primarily remained on their logo. As mentioned before, the instrumental parts that were presented to the audience were minimal; however, this allowed the duo to place the spotlight on their relatable and musical pleasing lyrical content. The band gave the listeners such content through a variety of tracks that they have released. Gianni & Kyle, when talking in terms of musical content, primarily places musical content to the world through the release of singles. On that day, on the other hand, Gianni & Kyle released their longest project to date: “She’s No Angel” check it out! Therefore, it was not a surprise that the pair played a few selections off this as well as singles that the audience would know. Even though not every person in attendance knew the content that the band was performing, the duo did an excellent job of integrating everyone into their performance, so that everyone could have a good time experiencing their music instead of just waiting around for Hoodie Allen. Overall, Gianni & Kyle were a strong opener for this tour because their musical content is related to Hoodie’s when talking style and musical genre(s); also, the pair came out to get the energy moving, and that’s exactly what they did.

Hoodie Allen:

 Next up was the person that everyone was waiting for, yes, you guessed it: Hoodie Allen! Before even talking about the concert aspect of the tour, it is imperative to mention how every single person who bought a ticket for this tour got to meet Hoodie Allen. The theme for the event was set up like a carnival with the overall title being the “Hanging with Hoodie” tour. Now, when Hoodie Allen advertised this tour, it was known that everyone who would attend their date, and arrived by a certain time, would be given the opportunity to meet the man himself. This is more than admirable, for Hoodie Allen made this a more intimate tour for his fans, him, performing at smaller venues just so he can give his fans a more heartfelt performance. Just taking that all in is hard to conceptualize, for there are not many performers who are willing to give up money and their name over the top lights just so that they can meet and recognize all of their fans that support them. I’m honestly still speechless in terms of all of this because it is so uncommon, but it shows how much Hoodie Allen truthfully cares about his music and his fans. All right, now that I’ve got all mushy about that part of the night, let’s talk about the music, shall we? Right from the jump Hoodie Allen hit the stage with top energy. The vocalist was joined by a live band, which gave the audience enhanced versions of the songs that they know and love, which makes for a more heightened evening from the beginning. Throughout the night, Hoodie gave the audience a variety of tracks that can be found on all of his releases. This got the crowd engaged and involved, for when one of those old “bangers” were performed the crowd would go crazy. Since the theme of the night was based off a carnival feel, Hoodie included two “games” where he asked for audience engagement. One being “the wheel of doom” and the other a “side to side” trivia game. The wheel of doom that was spun by one of the audience members presented several tasks or items that either Hoodie and the band would have to perform, or the audience member could receive free merchandise, or something along those lines. The task at hand was for Hoodie to freestyle on a topic picked by the audience member. She chose the topic of “Pittsburgh”, and Hoodie Allen almost immediately started forming this little diddy that connected right to the next selection in the set. This was super cool to experience, for it was interesting to watch Hoodie just spit this rhyme that he was actively thinking of, and then for him to just take that and spin it to the next song in the set: priceless. The trivia game placed one side of the crowd against one another through two representatives, where they were asked questions based off anything Hoodie Allen. This led perfectly into the song “Cake Boy”, for the loser of the trivia game was to be “caked”. Even when Hoodie and the band wasn’t giving the audience fun games to participate in, the energy was top notch, which helped to make for the perfect concert.

Final Thoughts:

 Overall, I would give this tour a 5 out of 5 stars. I landed on this score for a variety of reasons. The first reason as to why I landed on this score was because both artists hit the stage and ran with it. The audience didn’t have a moment to be “bored” because each artist came and put their all into their set, which made for an enjoyable evening. The other main reason as to why I landed on this score was because Hoodie Allen gave the audience a conceptual idea of the night from the moment he released the tour, and he clearly delivered through and through, which made for a stellar experience. Additionally, Hoodie Allen performed a small song by Post Malone, acoustic, in tribute of Mac Miller. This had all of the audience members sobbing, but it was a great feeling to have everyone singing in memory of him, which added a whole new level of love and appreciation to the event.