The first Dublin appearance of A$AP Rocky will go down in local music lore as one of those special, seminal occasions. ‘Suddenly’ marks the Harlem native’s introduction and it rocks. In its wake, a chant of ‘Long Live A$AP’ resonates through Abbey Street and immediately you sense that this is not so much a gig as an event.
There’s a strange dichotomy at work: wild chaos on the stage contrasting with gestures among the audience of mutual respect, high fives and daps being exchanged through every song.
The noise is something else. A$AP Rocky and his assistants for the night – A$AP Mob’s Joey Fatts and Aston Matthews – have an astonishing ability to move from a slow, deep, mechanical drawl to a manic fast-paced blitz in milliseconds, backed by great beats and topped off with brilliantly catchy hooks. The startling ‘Wild For The Night’ exemplifies this teasing modus operandi perfectly.
With the temperature in the room rising exponentially and the sweat causing puddles on the floor, A$AP launches into ‘Jump Around’, acknowledging the self-proclaimed Irishness of the track’s originators, House of Pain. Bodies and elbows fly and A$AP leaps headfirst into the crowd. Security dressed in black pull him back on stage: gold grill and jewelry are impressively intact.
Clearly, A$AP has twigged Snoop Dogg’s ‘Ole Ole’ trick, freestyling to Irish audiences’ favourite loop. By the end, a general mania seems to have gripped the entire room – the last time we experienced scenes of such rock ‘n’ roll abandon in The Academy was at OFWGKTA’s sold-out show in 2011.
‘Fuckin’ Problems’ provides the finale and is arguably the highlight of the night. It’s refrain – “I love bad bitches, that’s my fucking problem” – provides the inspiration for the most unusual of encores, which involves inviting as many attractive women as the rapper can find onstage and encouraging them to twerk for about five minutes (if you don’t know, google it).
It seems to be a tactic designed to ensure that A$AP and his entourage get some local action as they pass from town to town. Questionable? Maybe, but the girls seem pretty pleased – as does everyone else in the audience. And so there’s time for just one final chant...
“Long Live A$AP.”