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Chicago Sun-Times

National

Selena Fragassi - For the Sun-Times

Travis Scott brings his electrifying Circus Maximus to Chicago

Travis Scott X (Organization) Chicago United Center (Organization) Bill Smith the United Center Kanye West GQ

Travis Scott commands the stage during his Wednesday night concert at the United Center. (Bill Smith/United Center)

If 2023 was the year of Travis Scott, 2024 isn’t letting him go quiet into the night. The rapper, who continues to dominate charts and Gen Z with his dynamic, Grammy-nominated album “UTOPIA,” showed as much at the United Center Wednesday night in a chaotic, overstimulating frenzy of a concert.

The show arrived a little over two weeks after the hip-hop megastar abruptly postponed his Dec. 15 concert at the UC just hours before showtime, eliciting strong social media reactions from ticketholders. At the time, he explained on X that he spent24 hours on an airport tarmac trying to get back to the States after booking a last-minute appearance at the Soundstorm Festival in Saudi Arabia the day prior.

Scott appeased any lingering doubts about the makeup gig in another tweet earlier this week, however, assuring fans that nothing would prevent it from happening. “It wasn’t a runway bus [sic] a plane a train a pilot a conductor a cab, Uber or car service that was gonna keep me away from CHICAGO TONIGHT,” he shared, also briefly addressing the debacle on stage, imploring, “I couldn’t start the year off without my Chicago family.”

The sold-out crowd on Wednesday night was quick to forgive, filling up every nook of the venue for La Flame and scheming to find ways to breach security for a coveted spot on the floor, where throngs of fans circled Scott’s dramatic and winding stage construction. With its monstrous appearance and “Mad Max” flair, it could’ve led outliers to assume an asteroid dropped into the middle of the stadium.

The United Center posted early warnings on its website about fans remaining in their seats and cautioning that anyone attempting to enter the floor without the proper ticket would be booted from the arena. Not that many didn’t try, which led to ongoing tension between Scott and UC security throughout the night.

Travis Scott at the United Center on Wednesday night. (Bill Smith/United Center)

“Security, what we’re not gonna have happen tonight is kicking fans out,” Scott warned from the stage, interrupting the show to direct venue security to release their hands from a female fan and brazenly warning he’d “walk off this stage” to handle the situation himself.

While fans applauded the rapper for being in their court, the moment was a reminder of Scott’s formidable return to the fold in 2023 — the year in which he was named one of GQ’s “men of the year,” released one of the biggest hip-hop albums netting 3 billion streams, and grossed more than $80 million on this Circus Maximus tour. It’s his biggest production to date and perhaps his loudest (a huge line of subwoofers separated the pit from those in the seats, literally commanding the “roof shaker, earthquake” line in “MODERN JAM”).

It’s also the 32-year-old’s first album and tour since the tragic events at his Astroworld festival in his hometown of Houston in November 2021 and the deadly crowd surge that killed 10 people and injured hundreds. No criminal charges were filed against the rapper.

Travis Scott brought his Circus Maximus Tour to the United Center on Wednesday night. (Bill Smith/United Center)

Scott opened up to outlets like GQ about his “devastated” state after the event and how it affected his artistry, which comes across in the moody, dark tones of “UTOPIA,” a progressive, risk-taking album that has a cornucopia of guest stars including Drake, Kid Cudi, Bad Bunny and Beyoncé, who co-wrote a track. One of the guests, Don Toliver (also signed to Scott’s Cactus Jack records), was the surprise on this night in Chicago, the unannounced opening act who also returned to jam on “CAN’T SAY” and debuted a track of his own.

Though many on social media tried to summon Scott to bring out the much-maligned Kanye West, what they got in return was a cover of Ye’s “Praise God.” Others who held up signs claiming to be “Fein-ing” for more got their wish, however, as Scott delivered his bombastic single “FE!N” 10 times, mirroring the same antics at previous tour dates. Was it necessary? Absolutely not. Was it received well? More than any other performance of the night.

There’s a guttural release Scott is presenting on this tour, a total tantrum of a show with fireballs, firework flares and relentless strobes. And whether it’s his own processing of recent events, a commentary on the world as we know it (and presenting an escape via his otherworldly stage display), his open invitation for fans to “rage” at each date is well-received, cathartic, even joyous.

Or as he’s said in recent articles, “You don’t come here to think, you come here to let loose.”

The circus comes back to town for a second showdown on Jan. 22; tickets are still available.