Music

PHOTOS/REVIEW: Drake at the Molson Amphitheatre

by Tim Kiladze

Photos by Kayley Luftig/AUX TV

“All I care about is money and the city that I’m from.” Perched on stage at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre, a sweaty Drake rips the line from his radio anthem to remind the outdoor crowd of just how much he enjoys being home on a sweltering 30-degree night.

That the Degrassi actor-turned-music sensation loves his city is no big secret. His lyrics are laced with memories of his diverse hometown. But his now annual OVO Fest has taken the admiration a step further. Where last year’s concert was about Drake making a name for himself as a headliner, this year he wanted to give back to his fans, including the 20-something girls who sang his R&B lyrics, the stoners who smoked spliff after spliff, and the hipsters who rocked Converses with shorts cut too far above their knees.

Yet winning over this audience was only half the battle. Drake wants the biggest names in music to love this city and its motley crowd just as much as he does.

Last year’s inaugural concert laid solid groundwork. Jay-Z and Eminem were stellar support for a rookie artist who had just dropped his first official album—even if both passed their primes a decade ago. Conversely, this year’s lineup was packed with contemporary powerhouses and neophytes who are taking the industry by storm. There were the rookies, J. Cole and The Weeknd; the boss, Rick Ross; the nasty one himself, Nas; and the small man you can’t help but love, Lil Wayne.

Then there was the star, the legend, the champ: Stevie Wonder. Though his thirty-minute set didn’t quite fit—to say the least—next to Wayne’s and Ross’ indignities, Mr. Wonder’s superstar presence proved just how much respect Drake has garnered. (It was later revealed that Stevie will appear on Drake’s sophomore studio album, Take Care, which drops Oct. 24. October’s Very Own, indeed.)

Not only did Stevie get the ladies in the audience standing on their seats, he also proved that Drake’s plan appears to be working. After working through such to-be-expected hits as “Sir Duke,” “I Wish” and “My Cherie Amour,” Mr. Wonder ended by singing, “Feelin’ Toronto. Want to move to Toronto.”

Supporting cast aside, Drake held his own on stage. After opening the two-hour-and-45 minute collective set with his banger “Up All Night,” he never looked back. Comfortable up there in a black tank top with the letters OVOXO strewn across the front, he cruised through verses off “Forever” and “Show Me A Good Time.” As the crowd grew wild, J. Cole stepped grabbed a mic for a rendition of the sultry “In The Morning.”

Next up was Nas, who strutted on stage to the booming first verse off “Made You Look.” “Now let’s get it all in perspective/For all y’all enjoyment, a song y’all can step with.” Then came “If I Ruled The World,” the first sign that Drake was about to slow the show down. What followed was where Toronto’s very own really shone. Though his party anthems get crowds hyped up, his tenderness is what has catapulted him into super-stardom.

In his element, Drizzy doesn’t mess around. To set the mood, he brought out a solo violinist. Then, collected, he re-emerged and launched into “The Calm,” the reflective track off the So Far Gone mixtape that caught the music industry by storm in 2009. Revealing his insecurities, he adlibbed and talked to himself by singing “everything will be just fine,” before a guitar solo stole the crowd’s attention. The massive “Marvin’s Room” followed, and the ladies sang much louder than Drake himself.

Drizzy held nothing back when the song finished. “Maybe I should let my uncle know that he’s the only fucking reason I’m standing on this stage,” he told the crowd. Soon after, he went off on a Kanye-esque soliloquy in which he noted that he should stop reading online comments about himself. (Apparently his eyebrows are too thick.)

These are the moments that touch peoples’ hearts, and similar sensitivities have propelled The Weeknd into the spotlight.

While Sunday’s show was clearly Drake’s from start to finish, 20-year-old Torontonian Abel Tesfaye held it down from the moment he started his opening set with “High for This” in a perfect falsetto. Though he was visibly nervous at his first solo show only a week earlier, this time around The Weeknd was much more relaxed in his green army fatigue pants and an over-sized denim jean vest – an outfit that masks his warmth.

Still, it was Drake’s moment to shine, and he did just that. The audience wanted him, needed him. He put the concert under his name, and he delivered. Rick Ross got the crowd wild with just a DJ by his side, and Lil Wayne sent the noise level into the stratosphere when he ran on stage during “Miss Me” in bizarre tie-dyed baggy pants. After their individual sets, the men ended the show together, rapping about cocaine and basketball on “I’m On One.”

Of course, the concert wasn’t perfect. Most of the tracks performed were overplayed radio cuts that don’t instill much emotion. Most noticeably, Drake left out the first three songs on Thank Me Later, whose sensitive, self-conscious lyrics prove just how vulnerable he really is. And oddly enough, the show had no encore, a rarity for a concert of this magnitude. Just before midnight, Drake walked off stage and the lights suddenly came back on.

Here’s to hoping the second album takes its place.