FFWD REW

Future in review

Proclaiming Sunday July 6 “the best night of my life” Atlanta autotune king Future effortlessly turnt up a packed crowd at Flames Central. Half cut and half sunburnt with no haybails in sight the room felt good as if we were collectively forgiving the raging cowboy thing happening just beyond the venue doors to embrace Future. At the top of his game the performer threw his summery blonde dreads side to side and paced the stage in a steamy room of fans just in from the rain. Dude is athletic. He delivered a solid impassioned run through of his 2014 album Honest with hits from past mixtapes and Pluto while the room collectively screamed danced and Instagrammed the experience.

Calgary’s Yung Dre opened the show with a crew of buds and gawkers alike on stage. At one point he brought out a guy straight out of a Mark’s Work Wearhouse commercial for a duet. I think he was named Tony? Puka shell necklace and all this crooner and Yung Dre somehow pulled together a rousing Drake-inspired ballad that could have gone deliciously bad but managed to be the stand out of his set. Ayoo Angie followed with a throng of hype-girls. Her voice booming giggling over technical missteps and lags in between songs Angie’s charm won the crowd over.

Between sets I played my favorite game called "I would wear that in a second" where you look at what anyone is wearing and intuitively know that given the chance you’d swap outfits. Leather singlets wild two piece crop top ensembles gladiator heeled sandals asymmetrical pleather wrap skirts a hat made entirely of studs — I would wear all that in a second. Remarkably Stampede gear was in short supply though I did at one point witness a cowgirl filming the show on her iPad.

Touring with Future Milwaukee’s Rico Love delivered 30 second bursts of hi- hop between commands to make some noise most notably “If you feel sexy every motherfucking day – make some noise!” Going from a white leather jacket and sunglasses to a bizarre black and white striped t-shirt printed with oversized anime tears Love delivered “Main Bitch” and “To My Ex” amongst others. Love’s ‘MIDDLE FINGER TO MY EX’ t-shirts paired with his teardrop shirt make it hard not to think the dude is just crying all the time. Outside of making some noise the highlight of his set was the three DJs behind him wearing ‘SAVE ART’ snapbacks punctuating his appeals with gun shots and airhorn effects.

Nearing the end of his 2014 Honest Tour Future took to the stage around 12:30 a.m. accompanied by a lone hypeman stationed behind a booth draped with an over-sized American flag. A rumour circulated that Future was late to the stage because he was getting a pre-show neck tattoo upstairs – could it be true? Gregarious and handsome in leather jeans and an oversized man-tunic he easily flowed through Honest from “Benz Friendz” into “Honest” into 45 seconds or so of “Trophy.” Elbows out the crowd freaked out to “Bugatti” later singing “Move That Dope” and “Shit.”

Future seamlessly flowed from heavy autotune to rapping to softly sung ballads. Magnetic live the bustling crowd forgave his visible on/off lip-synching with a smile. At one point the woman beside me grabbed my arm to scream. Self-assured while riding a hugely successful album Future made it look easy. Closing out the night with “Blood Sweat and Tears” the crowd felt lifted.

Leaving Flames Central just before 2:00am we might have discovered the only venue in downtown Calgary where ‘Good Vibez Only’ tanks and bucket hats showed up Stampede hype.

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