Concert review: Travis Scott brings the amusement park to Columbus on latest “Astroworld” tour stop

Chase-Anthony Ray
Mon, 25 Feb 2019 16:16:35 +0000
Arts & Life, Music, News, 90210, arena, astrothunder, astroworld, butterfly effect, can't say, carousel, Columbus, concert review, drugs you should try it, ferris wheel, goosebumps, mamacita, mile high, mo bamba, no bystanders, Ohio, schottenstein center, sheck wes, show, sicko mode, sold out, stargazing, tour, tour stop, Travis Scott, upper echelon, Wish You Were Here, yosemite

Travis Scott sings popular songs like ‘Sicko Mode’ and ‘Butterfly Effect’ during Astroworld-Wish You Were Here Tour 2 at the Schottenstein Center on Feb. 24. Credit: Amal Saeed | Assistant Photo Editor

On Sunday night, thousands of Travis Scott fans, from all walks of life, packed out the Schottenstein Center for the latest stop on his “Astroworld: Wish You Were Here” tour.

Going into the show I was a little hesitant of how good it was going to be because my last experience at a Scott show was two years ago in Pittsburgh, where I was involved in one of the craziest mosh pits I’ve ever been apart of.

I wasn’t sure if that energy would translate to a big arena-sized crowd because for some artists, bigger crowds mean less intimacy.

But in the case of the “Astroworld: Wish You Were Here” tour, I was wrong.

Before Scott hit the stage, he only had one opening act, New York-based rapper Sheck Wes.

Even though he’s primarily known for one popular song right now, his energy was honestly great throughout his set, especially as a new artist, who’s never performed in an arena before this tour.

Long story short, hearing an arena full of people sing “Mo Bamba” live was a spiritual experience.

Before Scott’s set started, you could tell no expense was spared on the production value as there were two stages set up across the floor from each other, one with a humongous LED screen and the other with a Ferris wheel attached to it. Dangling above the crowd was a roller coaster perched on a track that stretched across the floor, and below on the floor were thousands of fans squeezed between the two stages running back and forth from one to the other throughout the night.

Opening his set to “Stargazing” set the tone for the show immediately. Scott has this ability to where he can make a crowd of thousands of people do whatever he says. At one point he got the people on the floor to split evenly down the middle and let one of his cameramen run through and film while they moshed to “Mamacita.” Even when parts of certain songs are meant to be downtempo, all he had to do was raise his voice a little bit and the entire crowd will start raging again.

Sheck Wes opens for Travis Scott Astroworld- Wish You Were Here Tour 2 at the Schottenstein Center on Feb. 24. Credit: Amal Saeed | Assistant Photo Editor

A lot of the personal highlights throughout the night for myself were when he performed songs such as “Antidote,” “Butterfly Effect,” “No Bystanders,” “Beibs in the Trap,” “Yosemite,” “Goosebumps” and “Sicko Mode.”

There was a stretch of songs he performed that I like to refer to as the “trippy palate cleanser” portion of the show.

A portion of his set was dedicated completely to some of the more downtempo songs in his catalog such as “Drugs You Should Try It,” “90210,” “Skeletons,” “Astrothunder” and even songs as recent as “Mile High,” his latest collaboration with James Blake.

These songs were a nice break from the high-energy bangers he was running through the entire night, and the visuals were mesmerizing and so entrancing that it made Scott seem otherworldly.

Like I said before, you come to “Astroworld” for the spectacle, but it’s obvious Scott put this together completely for the fans.

After he rode the 360-degree Ferris wheel during “Carousel,” his stage crew (the unsung heroes of the show) cycled a line of kids on the stage to ride the attraction one-by-one as he kept performing more songs.

This lasted about 20 minutes.

During his performance of “Can’t Say,” he brought a lucky fan on stage to ride the roller coaster with him above the mosh pit. After he got off, he let multiple fans ride the roller coaster as he kept performing, even yelling at one of his crew members for cutting a ride short and not letting fans get the full experience.

Things like that are what make me a proud Scott fan. No matter the size of the venue, all he cares about is making sure his “ragers” are having the time of their lives.

“Astroworld” can be described as the perfect live amusement park for this generation, with multiple things going on at once (roller coasters, mosh pits, Ferris wheels, etc.), but it never took attention away from Scott.

“Astroworld” is a concert experience I’ll never forget, and now I see why the tour got its name. I wish I could’ve brought all my friends with me. ?