Last night saw Travis Scott complete his sold-out two-night stand at London’s O2 Arena, the American rapper’s first major performance since the tragic events at Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston last November. Scott took to Twitter over the past few days to express his excitement over the shows. On August 7th, the day after the first of his shows, the artist tweeted, “Wooooowwwww just woooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww” quickly followed by “Round 2 London tonight this gonna be special one man dem ready”.
Wooooowwwww just woooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 6, 2022
Round 2 London tonight this gonna be special one man dem ready — TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 7, 2022
On August 8th, the day after the second of the two shows, which was added due to high demand, Scott tweeted, “London thank u for those last two days. What an amazing fucking time ahhhhhhhhhhhh” and “I’ll be back when it’s album time”.
London thank u for those last two days. What an amazing fucking time ahhhhhhhhhhhh
— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 8, 2022
I’ll be back when it’s album time
— TRAVIS SCOTT (@trvisXX) August 8, 2022
Scott kicked off the first show in a typically dramatic fashion, pyrotechnics firing as the rapper appeared on a podium above the stage as he opened with “Hold That Heat”. Scott didn’t disappoint his UK fans, smashing through a 23-song set, including the songs “Sicko Mode”, “MAFIA”, “Way Back”, and “Butterfly Effect”. The incendiary performance was quickly shared by fans who didn’t hang around posting footage to social media. Concert attendee @Adam_Baines tweeted, “@trvisXX Travis Scott at @TheO2 tonight went beyond wild, never seen a crowd like it”.
@trvisXX Travis Scott at @TheO2 tonight went beyond wild, never seen a crowd like it pic.twitter.com/CDf9o2UWPe — AB (@Adam__Baines) August 6, 2022
The rapper also performed “Pick Up The Phone” with a fan and then gave him his shoes and treated the crowd to a couple of unreleased songs, with Scott performing “Lost Forever”, featuring Westside Gunn and James Blake and “God’s Country”, featuring Kanye West. Both songs will likely appear on his upcoming album Utopia.
Travis Scott performed Pick Up The Phone with a fan then gave him his shoes pic.twitter.com/Ykomv60hCl — TRAVIS SCOTT FAN PAGE RodeoTheAlbum (@RodeoTheAlbum) August 7, 2022
The London stint is Scott’s first headline engagement since the Astroworld tragedy last year, where ten people died and many more were injured in the fatal crowd crush. NME reported Houston Fire Department Chief Sam Peña’s comments at the time: “The crowd began to compress towards the front of the stage and that caused some panic and it started causing some injuries.”
Festival goer Alexis Guavin told CNN in the aftermath, “I have been to many Travis shows before and am definitely aware of how insane the crowd and pits can be but this was my first Astroworld fest and I had no idea it could get like that”. She continued, “Once he started, all hell broke loose. All of what is to be 50,000 people ran to the front, compressing everyone together with the little air available. Luckily, I have mosh pit experience and am 6ft tall so I could at least put my head up to breathe but others not so fortunate”.
The first of his London shows didn’t go without incident, with a fan throwing something at Scott. The London newspaper The Metro reported, “It was reportedly a heavy item, as a loud bang was heard as it made contact with the floor. The rapper was said to be unimpressed and annoyed by the incident but carried on with his show without interruption, avoiding its distraction”.