Although he may not sell millions of records, Q-Tip is one of the most respected artists in any genre, mainly because of his work with legendary and iconic hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Q-tip has since put out two solo albums, but he definitely had some tricks up his sleeve and kept his die-hard fans satisfied.
This tour is his first tour in support of his recently released album The Renaissance, as he churned through hits like "You" and his first single "Gettin’ Up." Q-tip also added that extra live element with a five-piece backing band, giving his songs the rich and full sound. He also visited his 1999 album, Amplified, with choice selections like "Things U Do" and "Vivrant Thing."
The Tribe’s presence was definitely in the building as Q-tip sprinkled in hits from his past throughout his hour-long set. His 5-piece band backed him up on Tribe classics like "Bonita Applebum," "Check the Rhyme" and "Electric Relaxation." The crowd erupted during "Scenario," and became live during his set closer "Award Tour."
Q-tip’s throwback hip-hop classics weren’t the only good thing about this tour. The Cool Kids came close to stealing the show with their high-energy hipster anthems. The duo really got the crowd moving with hits like "Black Mags" and the Run DMC-esque "88."
Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks also jammed out songs that induced crowd participation like "Oscar the Grouch" and "Bassment Party."
New Orleans duo The Knux opened the show with a short but sweet set. With only about 20 minutes to play, the group breezed through "The List," "Fire" and other songs off of their debut LP, Remind Me in 3 Days, to an overall unenthused crowd. This would be expected, as relatively unknown acts tend to fall on deaf ears.
Gamers also enjoyed themselves as the tour promoters had TV screens set up in the back of the venue previewing coming and new releases from 2k Sports, which was definitely a hot spot.
One of the best things about the show was the diversity of the crowd. Considering all of the acts came from different sub-genres of hip-hop, it came as no surprise that hip-hop heads and just overall fans of music came out for the show.
2k Sports put together one of the most all-around entertaining shows of the year with the Bounce Tour, and it’s unlikely that anyone left unsatisfied.
