Andrea Arzola-ZunigaJ. Cole was the first artist I ever saw perform at 11 years old during his KOD tour back in 2018 at the Honda Center. Now, for the The Fall-Off Tour, J. Cole took over the stage on his last night performing in Los Angeles at the Crypto Arena.
What I thought would’ve been a full hyped show felt like a podcast at some points because of the amount of interactions and conversations there were throughout the concert no matter where you were seated with the artists. It is nice and all, but are they here to talk or to sing?
The show opened up with Dreamville Records artist Bas who introduced DJ Nitrane. They started to play modern hip-hop bangers to hype up the growing crowd that was settling in for the main event. They played “Stick” by J.Cole and J.I.D along with “Love” by Keyisha Cole, bringing out a choir of feminine voices singing from the seats.
Bas, the acting MC, introduced PJ, an upcoming artist signed to Dreamville whom I had never heard of before the concert.
For openers, I want to hear their music to see if they are an artist that I could vibe with. Tell me why Bas spent more time saying “What’s up PJ” trying to hype up the crowd than actually letting her showcase her lyrics and vocals.
PJ didn’t even sing the full songs but instead sang only parts of what I assume are her hits, intercut with crowd work.
PFG, the third opener for the concert, had a way better set. He showcased some of his songs from his album “NEVER SAY DIE” that remind me of J. Cole’s older style. Ab-Soul, a Top Dog Entertainment rapper, was a surprise guest on stage but did not come to perform. Instead he just chilled and drank tequila with Bas. But, it was still cool to see.
The strongest part of the night was when J. Cole entered the stadium, not by getting on stage, but by sitting among the fans. He started off the show by singing “39 Intro” from his The Fall-Off album, from inside the crowd, in a random seat and continued to slowly make his way to the stage while dapp’n up the audience.
What made the concert truly memorable was the entire production. The lights were the star of the show, illuminating not only Cole but the crowd as well. The set was very beautiful with a forest background, Cole’s Honda Civic, and a callback to his hometown’s famous building, “The Market House” in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The production was trying to make the concert feel like a movie, with the opening of the concert being similar to the Universal Pictures movie intro. Instead of “Universal” it said “Dreamville”, which I thought was a nice touch. At the end, they even showcased their version of movie credits with the people who performed and worked on the concert.
Cole stated that his goal was to make Los Angeles feel like “the Ville” back in North Carolina. He played some of his old deep cuts back from his mixtapes, which he said were being played for himself.
He was not scared to sing songs that the crowd didn’t know, and even acknowledged they wouldn’t know them. The moment was personal to him. That interaction is what made his personality shine.
During his song “Safety”, Cole added a tribute on the top screens to commemorate one of his friends, who he talked about in the song, who passed away. It was a personal song to begin with, but the commemoration to show the audience who his friend was truly stuck with me. It made me feel a type of remorse for him, a feeling that left me a little chilly and sorrowful seeing Cole’s emotions on his regrets, on his late friends passing and their friendship.
While the vibe was more serious during most of Cole’s hit songs, many fans started to wave their free towels with The Fall Off Tour branding, which were left to us on our seats the moment we got there. The crowd was a big part of the show and created a great atmosphere by trying to rap verse by verse with Cole at the top of their lungs.
Everything from the interaction with the crowd, to the set, to Cole’s performance were honestly super spectacular and what made the show a great experience. Even though some portions of it could have benefited from less talking and more performing, those 36 songs by Cole truly made up for it.
