After being on the front page of the Redeye and featured as Pitchfork’s Best New Music out, it didn’t stop there for the talented artist, Joey Purp, who definitely gave his fellow Chicagoans a show to remember Friday night at The Metro. Making my way through the clouds of Mary Jane and the exhausted body heat, I made my way up to the balcony to watch the show in its entirety.
Finally the moment to witness a Lucki Eck$ set arrived, and the young Gemini delivered his hit originals and then some. The Freewave got fans all hype for what else the night had in store. A smooth set by Lakim followed soon after and things started to heat up even more. The crowd grew in number as well as anticipation.
Next up, Sonny Digital who was such a delight to watch as he had the entire Metro active on their feet and full of energy. The crowd was T’d off the first song and there was no going back. Truly a wonderful set to witness from someone with so much personality and enthusiasm.
And what would a Chicago show possibly be without DJ Oreo popping up on us?! An incredibly lit set, done with ease. The Metro was instant chaos right when he first hit the stage.
Finally the moment that we’d all been waiting for had come; yes, Joey Purp finally hopped on stage to greet with an over eager audience as “iiiDROPS” lit up the stage and “it was beautiful” (Dom K. voice). . The set kicked off with “PHOTOBOOTH” & “MORNING SEX”, easily giving the crowd that Joey fix they’d been awaiting. After leading us through songs off his newest PROJECT, Joey even brought out Kami, another talented affiliate from the Savemoney crew, as they performed some Leather Corduroy songs, which included, of course, “We Don’t Know How To Stop”.
Shortly after, Joey graced us with the presence of Towkio. The entire Metro shook as they performed “G W M” and spent most of their time indulged in the audience’s embrace. Absolute pandemonium erupted while everyone chimed in unison “GANG WITH ME” while Joey and friends took over the stage enjoying themselves and this moment. At this point, you thought it couldn’t get any better, but Joey wasn’t done with the surprises.
The biggest surprise of the night was the presence of the newly 23-year-old Vic Mensa where, all hell ensued, in a good way. The two carried on in transition to perform “Winner’s Circle” another track off iiiDrops. And of course it was only appropriate that, “16 Shots” from Vic’s latest album, There’s A lot Going On, be performed not only alongside Joey but also to be in Chicago, where teenager LaQuan McDonald was shot 16 times by a police officer.
It’s truly a SAVEMONEYSUMMER16′. Get with it.
