If you happened to miss the rise of Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage, the first minute of his live show helpfully fills you in. Featuring projections of childhood photographs and soundbites from news reports, it traces his ascent from featured artist to bona fide superstar. Then comes the immigration-shaped bump in the road: in 2019, Savage was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and threatened with deportation. He is in fact a British citizen, had been living in the US undocumented for 13 years, and as a result had never toured outside of the country. But the rapper secured legal residence there in 2023, clearing the path to this first ever UK performance, which is both a homecoming and major career milestone.
Split loosely into three sections, the show races through Savage’s back catalogue. Launching with 2020 single Runnin, he blasts from verse to verse, but things really pop off during Dip Dip, from early mixtape Slaughter King, when Savage matches the playful production by bouncing across the stage while smoke cannons explode around him.
The show feels uneven, however. The beats in the first act are overly uniform in their subterranean shaking, while the second section never quite lands on a theme. Tracks such as Ball w/o You and Out for the Night, from the album I Am > I Was, demonstrate Savage’s soulfulness, however the pop-adjacent Spin Bout U and Privileged Rappers are corny by comparison.
He smooths things out a little with the final act. His verse from J Cole’s My Life is followed up with A Lot, an exposing autobiographical track that is easily the night’s most impressive performance. Here Savage raps as if he’s sharing stories with a close friend, the audience rapt and ready to support on the call-and-response chorus. It seems like a missed opportunity for him not to have played more solo material like this, especially given that he remains alone on stage throughout. Still, that in itself is testament to his magnetic star power.
It’s also not the point, perhaps, of this particular tour. After being denied the chance for so long, 21 Savage is finally able to celebrate the breadth of his career in the country in which he was born. That, for now, is enough.
