On the last stop on his spring tour, the Canadian rapper bbno$ played to a sold-out crowd at the Manchester Academy on March 22nd. With his collaborators jungle bobby and [email protected] as support, bbno$ played an unforgettable concert packed with positive energy and hilarious interactions with fans.
The show started with jungle bobby introducing some of his singles to the crowd, and it’s safe to say that the crowd loved the music and the atmosphere bobby created. At some point [email protected] replaced him on stage, and was met with the similar level of enthusiasm. Both bobby and ceo display a music style comparable to that of bbno$, and the crowd seemed to recognise it. Every person in the audience had the time of their lives even before the main show began. And even more, the support felt as if it was a main show – the crowd knew and loved both bobby and ceo. Their performances were packed with energy, excitement, and the crowd was chanting the words to every song as instructed by the rappers on stage.
The audience erupted as bbno$ came out on stage straight after the support, opening with ‘black eyed pees’ from his latest album, eat ya veggies. The show was structured around the vegetable theme of the album. Excitedly reciting a tofu recipe from a vegan culinary cookbook that was ultimately given to “the most deserving” member of the audience, as well as throwing vegetables at the audience (one bell pepper was thrown directly at me, what a great feeling it was!), bbno$ undeniably pays great attention to promoting healthy eating habits.
I might have gotten a bell pepper, but others were even more lucky – bbno$ threw out a couple of beanies and even the sweater he was wearing, pushing the audience to the limits of excitement. These were pushed even further when the rapper asked someone from the audience to join him on stage. This repeated twice more, creating a unique bond between the artist and the fans as they were joining him on stage, something I haven’t seen at any gig before.
Although understandably the crowd went wild to the biggest hits, ‘edamame’ and ‘Lalala’, every single song resonated greatly. Many interactions with the audience and carefully building the bridge between himself and the crowd, this all led to a great experience.
Even though bbno$ didn’t play my personal favourite from the album, ‘i remember’, I loved everything about the show. Apart from the hits, he played a number of unreleased songs from an upcoming album. Although they didn’t have as much power power as eat ya veggies’ hits, they certainly give high hopes for the upcoming releases from the rapper.
You can listen to bbno$ album here on Spotify.
