Post Malone @ House of Blues

Post Malone
Opener: Jazz Cartier
October 14th, 2016 at House of Blues

By: Julian Furry

Post Malone’s delay on his new album Stoney left many fans disappointed and less feverish for the Hollywood Dreams Tour. Nevertheless, I was hyped to experience his smooth R&B take on rap music at the House of Blues.

Jazz Cartier, the Toronto-based rapper, started the show off with numerous remixes of popular hip-hop hits such as Desiigner’s “Tiimmy Turner”, 21 Savage’s “X”, and Chance the Rapper’s “No Problem”. The crowd really started to amp up as he performed “Holy Shit”, a banger with a hard-snare backdrop that was reminiscent of “Cut it” by OT Genesis. Cartier finished his set by walking on the crowd as he sang “Dead or Alive,” bringing crowd surfing to the next level. It was almost cult-like, as the crowd of angst-y teens raved the existential question of whether or not to be “Dead or Alive”. I give Cartier’s performance a solid 9/10 as he turned up and brought with him a splash of Toronto vibes that resonated with the audience.

Once Cartier slow-faded “Dead or Alive” into Post Malone’s intro to “White Iverson,” the audience morphed into a frenzy. Everyone in the building screamed, “POST MALONE,” at the top of their lungs, waiting to be silenced by his voice. Malone swerved onto the stage with his classic golden-grill smile, and smooth energetics that immediately electrified the crowd. He proceeded to crack open a beer, explaining that this was the first time he’d ever performed in Boston. Malone also mentioned that he refuses to join the 27 Club, which transitioned seamlessly to his opening song, “Too Young”.

His set list was comprised of old songs off his Soundcloud, his recently released Mixtape August 26, and a couple songs from his unreleased album Stoney. Post had promised to release Stoney for this tour and although he didn’t, he proceeded to perform songs off of the album, most of which the audience was not familiar with. This made it difficult for the crowd to get involved as they couldn’t even sing along. Despite this, I was mainly disappointed with his appearance on stage. Unlike his opening act Jazz Cartier, Post’s performance consisted of him pacing back and forth, occasionally pointing at people, and popping open a beer. It didn’t feel like a concert, as much as a guy singing at a crowd. As Justin Bieber’s opening act, Post Malone’s stage performance was sub-par, he engaged in minimal audience interactions and relied on his tunes to soothe his listeners. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to find that his voice sounded almost identical to the studio recordings.

He closed the show with the song that put him on the radar in the first place, “White Iverson”. At this point in the concert, it was a nice reminder of why I came here. I knew he was going to play this song last, I just wish I wasn’t so bored from the rest of his set to enjoy it. Overall, Post Malone’s performance was average, but he’s got a good voice and music, so I’m not ruling him out completely.