Andrea Wilkinson/Nevada Sagebrush
Futuristic performs at Cargo Concert Hall on March 5. Futuristic performed with Mike Stud, among other such as Devvon Terrell.
By Jordan Berns
The evening was full of twists and turns. From rapper Futuristic dunking in the crowd to Mike Stud chugging a bottle of Cîroc on stage with a lucky fan, to the ladies in the audience showing off what makes Mike such a stud, the crew put on an amazing show as it entered the tail end of “The Back to You Tour.”
Fans started lining up outside Cargo Concert Hall as early as 5:30 p.m. The wind blew as the sun dropped behind the mountains. The temperature slowly fell and a high chance of rain was in the forecast, but not a drop fell on the eager concertgoers. By the time 7 p.m. rolled around I was numb and shivering, but the doors soon opened and the defrosting process began.
The first act wasn’t scheduled to come out for about an hour, and people made themselves at home as close to the front of the stage as possible, while those 21 and over crowded the bar. The venue wasn’t nearly as packed as some of the tour’s other shows. Mike Stud even made a comment, saying, “These are the types of shows we came up on.” He appeared to enjoy the nostalgia.
The clock struck 8 p.m. and an unknown DJ took the stage to get everyone fired up and soon the crowd went wild as Futuristic, a fast-paced rapper with energy off the charts, ran out on stage and took the mic.
He showed off his skill with an a cappella verse from his song “Too Easy.” He also lit up a fresh joint and smoked it without hesitation. Security scoured the crowd kicking people out for smoking weed. Futuristic tried to defend a fan being thrown out to no avail, but at least he tried.
Singer Devvon Terrell also made an appearance with Futuristic. Terrell and Futuristic released an album together Christmas Day titled “Coast 2 Coast.” They both pulled up a chair and sat down center stage to perform their own rendition of Justin Bieber’s hit song “Love Yourself.” Terrell sang the ballad, but he couldn’t do the song justice.
They recovered by turning up the tempo and the crowd started bumping. To my amazement, the tour’s crew was able to set up a human basketball hoop in the crowd that Futuristic dunked on as he lunged off the stage.
Next onto the stage was Moosh and Twist. These two young musicians put on a good performance, but it wasn’t anything special. There weren’t any big moments like with Futuristic and Mike Stud.
One of the tour’s crew members stole the stage. He played an unbelievable solo on the guitar, which turned into an epic electric guitar version of the national anthem. The right side of the crowd chanted “USA, USA” and the rest of the crowd sang along. After the song, the crowd continued a “USA” chant and the stage cleared to make room for the headliner.
Mike Stud soon came out and graced the fans with his presence. He shook hands with fans in the front row and introduced himself. He started the show off right with “This Feeling.” It soon became clear that Mike Stud was there to party.
His crew brought out cans of beer and gave them away to fans as he and his crew shotgunned the beers. He played a song and brought out a bottle of Cîroc. He invited a fan up onstage to share the bottle with him. Mike chugged half the bottle no problem and handed the rest off. The fan downed the rest of the bottle and brought pride to the crowd.
Stud spent a lot of time throughout his set talking to the crowd. He took three requests, let a fan rap with him and shared more alcohol. As the night progressed, beautiful women in the crowd starting popping up on people’s shoulders and showed much love for Mike Stud. One girl on the left side of the crowd revealed her chest to him and started a chain reaction of girl after girl flashing Stud on stage. By the end of the night 10 girls had revealed themselves and some even made it onstage to dance with the man of the hour.
The night ended with Mike Stud signing autographs and shaking hands with fans as the venue cleared out. It was another successful evening at Reno’s own Cargo Concert Hall.
Jordan Berns can be reached at tbynum@sagebrush.unr.edu or on Twitter @b_e_nelson.
