The very stacked NBA Leather Tour with rappers Action Bronson, Earl Sweatshirt, and Boldy James is underway, and pictures from the show at Chicago's Riviera Theatre on Friday (2/11) are in this post.
As Carter Ferryman's review of the Denver show for 303 Magazine points out, all three rappers were given the same amount of stage time, and Earl and Bronson have been mixing up who headlines. (Bronson headlined in Denver, while Earl did in Chicago.) As advertised, The Alchemist was Boldy's DJ for the night and they kicked off the Chicago show together with a set that pulled from their various collaborative projects. Bronson was up next, with frequent Griselda DJ Daringer as his DJ, and he brought out Alchemist during his set too. He also paid tribute to the late Mac Miller by performing their collab song "Red Dot Music." Earl wrapped up the night with a set that mixed things up between his great new album SICK!, older material, two "Alchemist ft. Earl Sweatshirt" songs, and more. From that 303 Magazine review:
SICK!, his first studio album since the universally acclaimed Some Rap Songs, translated incredibly well into live performance. As far as Earl Sweatshirt projects go, it was his most upbeat — not entirely happy, but touching on brighter themes. The snappy pacing and easy-to-follow delivery on “Titanic” is a great example of this, and accordingly, it had Mission Ballroom doing a light bounce in unsynchronized unison. Sweatshirt is one of those artists whose music wouldn’t seem to work well live. Unsurprisingly, he proved to Colorado (twice, in almost as many months) that, if you’re that talented, the songs work literally anywhere. He’s an author using sonic backdrops in masterful ways — a combination that’s sure to engage any crowd.
Pictures from Chicago (by James Richards IV), setlists, and videos from that show and others on the tour below.
The tour lands in NYC this Wednesday (2/16) and Thursday (2/17) at Terminal 5, and tickets to both are still available. There's also an Alchemist burger and vinyl pop-up at Smashed on Wednesday:
All remaining tour dates here.
Action Bronson @ Riviera Theatre - 2/11/22 Setlist (via) Dmtri The Chairman's Intent C12H16N2 Golden Eye Mt. Etna Latin Grammys Live From the Moon White Bronco Prince Charming Terry Red Dot Music (Mac Miller song) Actin Crazy Baby Blue Easy Rider
Earl Sweatshirt @ Riviera Theatre - 2/11/22 Setlist (via) E. Coli (The Alchemist song) The Bends Mo(u)rning (Black Noi$e song) Off Top Cold Summers Ontheway! The Mint Old Friend 2010 MTOMB OD Vision Lobby (Int) EAST Homebound Grief Loose Change (The Alchemist song) All I Need (Wiki song) Titanic Shattered Dreams Head Heavy 2 NOWHERE2GO Quest/Power Fire in the Hole