Fans may not have gotten all they voted for, but Fanbassador’s first Tailor Made Festival was a night to remember.
A rowdy crowd of several thousand took to Canalside Saturday evening to catch performances from a variety of rappers and electronic groups. Their excitement mainly appeared during mainly hip-hop sets, like that of Waka Flocka Flame.
Openers for the festival were voted for by over 5,000 fans online and the show drew in quite a few more.
If an audience member didn’t get hit by an Uber-endorsed free Frisbee during Flocka’s performance, they still had to be cautious of just about everything else. Flying projectiles were plentiful and included hats, bras, boots, cell phones, traffic cones and even a recycling bin. The show’s young crowd seemed to outdo themselves each set.
Buffalo-native Jonathan Cooper arrived to the show late, but could already feel the audience’s energy.
“The crowd is lit. Everyone’s just so turnt,” Cooper said. “Just look around man, there’s a lot of people out here enjoying themselves and having a good time at a good concert.”
While random objects were dropping from the sky, one rapper dropped out from the night’s anticipated lineup. Rapper PnB Rock couldn’t perform due to a family conflict.
Rock’s no-show status in no way killed the evening’s vibe, as rappers Travis Scott, 2 Chainz, and Waka Flocka delivered in terms of hype and audience engagement.
Flocka and his hype man hit the stage and took the crowd through a string of hits including “No Hands” and Machine Gun Kelly’s “Wild Boy.” Although not as popular as he once was, Flocka proved to be one of the show’s highlights.
During Flocka’s performance, clouds came over the stage and brought some rain fall, yet that wasn’t the only thing pouring on the audience. The rapper and his over-the-top hype man continually sprayed the crowd with bottled water and champagne.
2 Chainz kept the surprises coming when he rolled out in a pink wheelchair decked with gold rims.
Throughout his set, Chainz was being wheeled around by one of his backup dancers, ironically dressed in a leather nurse outfit.
The rapper explained that he broke his leg three weeks prior and was advised to cancel the remainder of his upcoming shows, which he refused to do.
2 Chainz still managed to keep the crowd elevated, much like his own leg.
The rapper performed many of his famous feature verses, spitting his lines from hits like Chance the Rapper’s “No Problem” and Drake’s “All Me.”
Chainz made sure to highlight his backup singers and dancers as well, calling each his “trap choir” and “trap-up dancers.”
He later brought out fellow-headliner Travis Scott for their track “4AM.” It took the audience a while to realize that Scott was already in front of them, but when they did, the excitement could be heard from every direction.
That same excitement was present during Scott’s solo set, but Scott performed very few of his tracks in full, trying to fit a large amount of hits into one show. It may have seemed that Scott preferred quantity over quality, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
During the song “Way Back,” two fans stormed the stage and stood face to face with Scott. Police officers tried to get involved, but Scott urged them to back away and let the fans enjoy the moment and eventual stage dive.
This artist-fan involvement was just as prevalent in Scott’s performance of “Antidote.” When Scott screamed the song’s chorus, so did the crowd, bouncing on Scott’s demand. The performance was a clear crowd-favorite, making it difficult to find someone in the audience standing still.
Scott, a Houston-native, made sure to dedicate “Goosebumps” to those affected by his hometown’s recent hurricane.
During the performance, the rapper had the crowd clap and sing the song a capella style. When the beat came back for an exciting revival, it was shooed away by Scott’s own a cappella sendoff.
Fans came from all over to catch a glimpse of Scott, including Mitch Gannon, who traveled from Toronto for the show.
“I think Travis Scott is the biggest musical influence of our generation. He’s just so awesome,” Gannon said. “I’m really just excited to hear anything by Travis tonight, especially ‘Goosebumps.’”
This excitement wasn’t present for Keys N Krates’ performance earlier in the show.
The group had a unique electronic sound, but the hip hop lovers in the crowd were uninterested. Some even chanted Travis Scott’s name as they waited for Krates’ 20-minute late arrival, which was due to technical difficulties.
DVBBS’ performance was similar to that of the other electronic group, and didn’t hold the audience’s interest for long.
The duo had a solid start, performing popular songs like “Mask Off” and “Black Beatles,” trying to keep the crowd excited.
After a while, the audience grew tired, either from listening to a genre they didn’t care for or from being hit by too many flying projectiles.
In addition to well-known openers, Tailor Made featured local rappers Bill $aber and Dolo Chillin.
Dolo and his crew hit the stage with super soakers and Supreme cash machines. Before ending his set, the rapper had a milly rock-off with his little cousin, much to the delight of concert dwellers.
Dolo was also present for Smokepurpp’s set.
During “Audi,” Purpp screamed he wanted the mosh pit to grow and so it did. Dolo and Purpp ran around for the rest of the performance, jumping off barricades and hyping up the crowd of roughly 700 people at the time.
In between sets, both DJ Milk and DJ Yes kept the crowd’s interest, bringing hits like “Father Stretch My Hands” and “Fake Love” to life.
Although the crowd acted reckless at times and not every performer appeared, Tailor Made Festival was an overall success.
Chris Ring, CEO of Fanbassador, hopes for great things from the festival in the future.
“This is something we want to establish in Buffalo. There isn’t really any hip hop, EDM festivals or big outdoor shows that happen [here],” Ring said. “This is something we want to keep seeing in Buffalo as well as other markets in the years to come.”
Brenton J. Blanchet is the assistant arts editor and can be reached at brenton.blanchet@ubspectrum.com.
Brenton J. Blanchet is the 2019-20 editor-in-chief of The Spectrum. His work has appeared in Billboard, Clash Magazine, DJBooth, PopCrush, The Face and more. Ask him about Mariah Carey.
