Photo by Megan Hirao
At San Diego’s SOMA, the opening night of 2hollis’ Star Tour felt like both a coronation and a proving ground. The 21-year-old rapper-producer, a rising internet star whose sonic restlessness and extravagant style catapulted him from cult sensation to mainstream spotlight, comes in off the heels of a head-turning Coachella set marred by expectation. While the hit-making talents of everyone’s new favorite poster-boy are clear with the success of “jeans,” “trauma,” “gold,” and more, a question hung in our minds and in the minds of the hundreds of fans eagerly awaiting his arrival in the venue’s dingy strip mall parking lot: Diving headfirst into his first ever true headlining tour, could 2hollis turn viral hype into a fully realized live show?
As the crowd, a sea of ravers, scene-kids, and fashion demons, poured into the venue, the anticipation was palpable. The evening began with Rommulas, who, despite generally mixed expectations, still managed to underwhelm with his roughly ten-minute set. Relying heavily on backing tracks, his performance faltered in energy and confidence, and though the crowd still rallied briefly for his breakout “No Me Importa,” the opener ultimately left much to be desired.
Nate Sib, by contrast, took the stage with greater assurance. While I myself can’t really say the LA rapper necessarily enamored me throughout the span of his thirty-minute set, he managed to rally the audience after an unfortunately lackluster opener, giving the room something to hold onto before the main event.
As soon as the tarp, which had lain dormant at the back of the stage all night long, dropped to reveal a massive inflatable white tiger, the night shifted into pure 2hollis theater. Emerging shirtless, clad in white leather pants, and later donning fur-lined gloves that stretched past his elbows, he leaned into the sheer spectacle of it all. The crowd, which by this point had become a writhing mass of blinding iPhone flashlights, seemed to hang on his every word. Words, which funnily enough, found themselves punctuated by tiger roars blasting through the venue’s massive speakers. The setlist was sprawling, covering much of star and boy, and at its best moments, the constant genre-switching kept the night electric and unpredictable. Still, the show wasn’t flawless; the sheer length of the setlist did more to weigh it down as high-energy tracks grew sparse and things began to feel just a little repetitive. Despite its imperfections, however, the night was undeniably alive. The crowd’s connection with 2hollis was almost as strong as the smell of the pit in SOMA’s heat–they adored him. And from what we can tell, the feeling seemed mutual as the artist tossed roses and sweet nothings to his fans as they thrashed and fought their way closer and closer to the stage.
Despite its misgivings, the opening night of the Star Tour was, if nothing else, an experience and proof that 2hollis thrives in chaos. A chaos his fans are very much willing to follow him through.
