Steve Lacy brought his Tik Tok-famous R&B sound to Roadrunner on Oct. 10, although it didn’t live up to the crowd’s excitement.  

Fousheé, who opened for Lacy and is featured in the song “Sunshine” on his recent album, put on a better, more entertaining performance. She seemed to appreciate the energy of the crowd far more than the headliner himself.

During Fousheé’s performance, the crowd could clearly tell she was excited and grateful to be there as she was basking in the crowd. Lacy seemed like he couldn’t have cared less for his fans as time went on.

Despite his comments about how large the crowd was and his excitement to be back on tour again, the singer spewed a multitude of backhanded compliments. He was a clear fan of his Canadian audiences, and throughout the show mentioned how his Toronto show was smaller than Boston, but the crowd was much louder. The taunts wouldn’t have been a big deal if he hadn’t said it about 10 times over the course of the hour-and-a-half performance.

The continuous digs at the crowd’s volume made it evident that Lacy did not care about the fans who dedicated their time and money to be there, and he just wanted to hear people cheer his name for an ego boost.

Things escalated when the artist, who was obviously going to come back for an encore regardless, made the crowd cheer for Lacy to come back out for an eye-rolling amount of time. To top things off, Lacy saved his second most popular song “Dark Red” for the finale of the encore, but he teased the crowd knowing how badly they wanted to hear the fan-favorite.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Emily Beatty

Lacy slows down the tempo with an acoustic number.

Not only did the crowd chant the name of the song before he returned to the stage, but after playing “C U Girl,” the artist began the opening chords to the number and stopped it a whopping five times while yelling “you guys don’t want it bad enough” at the crowd, smiling smugly as his fans still cheered his name louder.

It’s clear by the artist’s pleas to hear his name that he cares more about feeling like he’s famous, rather than celebrating his success by putting on a good performance for those who got him there.

Though Lacy seemed continuously annoyed throughout the show, his ego-fueled antics aren’t entirely to blame. Many people passed out during both the opener and the headline act, with the show having to stop multiple times for emergency services to come help those in need.

While some of the fainting instances can be credited to taking drugs or drinking too much, the real issue at hand is people are no longer properly educated on concert safety, and many are just returning to the concert scene after three years of a global pandemic. 

Both artists and concert venues should take it upon themselves to properly educate attendees of their shows. Reminders to drink water and grab a bite to eat could have saved many of the disruptions from the show. The need for EMS was disproportionately higher at Lacy’s show, leaving many to wonder if a younger crowd played a significant factor. There were lots of parents there with their young children who clearly didn’t know any better.

Despite Lacy stopping the show multiple times for his fans to get help, his overall performance was mediocre, with his band’s talent outshining his own. It’s likely Lacy only paused his show to avoid being canceled like Travis Scott was for his Astroworld anarchy. 

If you’re considering seeing Lacy in concert, you may want to save your money.

Follow Abby and Emily on Twitter @astreabbs and @emilyhbeatty.