Themes that lasted a breath but had a devastating power, between melody in autotune mode and rap, and a staging of height. Because in the first few minutes of his show, Travis Scott passed him on a gigantic raised platform a few feet above the stage. It went without saying that it was not necessary to look at the screens to see it, nor to say that it put him in the position of master and lord. With the DJ and his partner several meters below, he exchanged a few phrases (the classic discursive constructions of this type of show). But his set on the first night of the final stretch of Primavera Sound Buenos Aires had many between the lines, in addition to the literalness and explicit harangues of a rapper prince.
He went down to the plain; Yes, he did it. He didn’t stay all the time on his throne. But that didn’t make him lose his gifts. Even from that imaginary plain (because the stages, ultimately, are always elevated), he strengthened his connection with his audience. It was then that the first “Olé, olé, olé, olé, Travis, Travis) were heard.
“Argentina, if you are ready, say Hey!” And of course his audience was ready, even with the foot of many of his songs, which ended up in the throats of thousands of fans. “Raise your fingers to the sky,” he ordered the crowd. And all his entourage responded faithfully.
His performance (the one he brought to this Primavera Sound tour of San Pablo, Santiago de Chile and Buenos Aires stages) was a constant crescendo, which had him going from end to end across the stage – amidst flamethrowers, sounds of gunshots and too recurrent explosions-, submerged in a scenographic framework that exposed it in different contexts, although, deep down, they were part of the same thing, the universe. Galactic references, rocky deserts, volcanic explosions and other geographical features were the backdrop for it.
A ten hour show and a kind of catharsis and rebirth. In 2022, Travis began to design a schedule of shows just from the second semester. The arrival of the rapper in Argentina occurs a few days after the tragedy of the Astroworld Festival, where eight people died due to an avalanche and another eleven were seriously injured. And who was on stage at that time was rapper Scott, creator of the event. Hours later, mixed opinions arose about the event and whether it could have been avoided with a suspension of the concert. While some local media would have assured that Travis tried to suspend the show when he saw bullfights, there are videos on social networks uploaded by fans that show that, while the security personnel were unable to help the injured, the rapper continued singing.
Days later, the musician referred to what happened on his Twitter account: “I am absolutely devastated by what happened last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those affected by what happened at the Astroworld Festival. The Houston police have my full support as they continue to investigate the tragic loss of life. I am committed to working with the Houston community to heal and support families in need.” The moment of the tragedy was the end of a quite eventful night, since the head of the firefighters of the city of Houston, Samuel Peña, reported that throughout the day there had been 300 injuries with bruises or scrapes that were not more serious. . As for the timing of the rush, he reported, “The crowd began to gather at the front of the stage. This created a panic movement that caused people to be injured.”
Stages like Costanera Sur represent his return to large-scale shows. And judging by the devotion of his fans, his charisma is still intact. That game of ascending and descending may have to do with that, not only with the unequivocal destiny of the rapper of deferred classes who succeeds.