By Hannah Smith, Nov. 1, 2022
I had the opportunity to go see Lil Nas X’s “Long Live Montero” tour on Oct. 23, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, and it was amazing. At the last stop of the U.S. leg of his tour, Lil Nas X made sure to bring the energy and excitement to this performance.
After the release of his first album “Montero” in 2021, Lil Nas X announced his first world tour in April with the tour starting in September. The rapper gained popularity after his single “Old Town Road” went viral and led to even more viral hits before his first album release. Lil Nas X made sure to pay tribute to his viral beginnings as well as his new material at his “Long Live Montero” tour.
Once I walked into the venue, ushers passed out programs that were stylized to look like Broadway Playbills. On the inside of the program, there was the set list, biographies of the background dancers and even a note from Lil Nas X thanking us for coming to his “play.” And once I stepped into the stage area, I knew what he meant by play. The stage was set up with a gilded false proscenium that contained butterflies, angels and a sun with Lil Nas X’s face in the middle. The false proscenium surrounded a curtain with a projection of the “Long Live Montero Tour” logo.
To continue with the “play” theme of the concert, the performance was split up into three acts. Each act opened up with a visit from “The Wizard of Naz,” a projected image that appeared on the curtains to tell the story of Montero — the birth name of Lil Nas X and the name of the fictional world created within his album.
The concert opened with one of Lil Nas X’s viral hits, “Panini” as Lil Nas X and his background dancers were decked out in gold outfits. The dancers were phenomenal throughout the concert and really elevated the performance. The set design was also really unique and helped to tell the story. The set mainly consisted of three large LED panels that would change images depending on the song and risers towards the back of the stage so that the background dancers could be highlighted.
As the show progressed, Lil Nas X performed more songs off his album like “Tales of Dominica” and “That’s What I Want” along with the viral classic, “Old Town Road.” The performance of “Old Town Road” was especially amazing, several of the background dancers came out puppeteering a giant gold horse that danced around the stage and then the song later transitioned into the song “Pony” by Ginuwine. Lil Nas X’s high energy combined with his elaborate outfit really made this song a show stopping number.
This wasn’t the only song in the concert that sampled other artist’s music. At one point in the concert Lil Nas X and his dancers just danced to “PURE/HONEY” by Beyoncé and later on each of the background dancers got a mini solo to a song of their choice. I thought this part of the performance was really great because is gave each of the incredible background dancers a chance to show off their skills and give them the recognition they deserved.
In the final act of the concert, Lil Nas X performed one of his most anticipated songs, “Call Me By Your Name.” Lil Nas X recreated his controversial music video for the song by projecting the image of Hell as portrayed in the music video while he and his dancers danced provocatively. The song transitioned into a monologue from Lil Nas X as he talked about his time in San Francisco so far and then began to introduce his upcoming song “DOWN SOUF HOES.” During the song he even had several fans come up to the stage and dance with him.
For the finale Lil Nas X and his dancers performed “Industry Baby.” For his closing outfit, Lil Nas X wore a pink bedazzled football uniform along with his dancers. Once the song ended the curtains closed and cannons shot out butterfly confetti out to the audience. Once the audience recovered from the shock of the cannons and the realization that Lil Nas X had left the stage, they began chanting “Montero!” hoping for an encore. And our encore prayers were answered as Lil Nas X came out in a final outfit change and performed his latest release “STAR WALKIN.’”
The “Long Live Montero” tour was more than just a concert, it was a truly immersive storytelling experience. Every aspect of the tour from the outfits to the set design to set list was perfectly curated to create the ultimate concert experience. I can’t wait to see what Lil Nas X does next.
Feature image courtesy of Hannah Smith