By: Maryvic Ruiz [Music Director Assistant]
I love Goldink. He’s an alternative hip hop artist. I think his style and flow is very unique, eclectic, and creative. I’m not like his number one fan where I know all of his songs by heart (yet), but I still very much enjoy his music. I’ve personally never heard hip hop quite like his before, so when I found out he was coming to Utah on October 1, 2017, I was stoked. My husband and I excitingly bought our tickets. He was playing at The Complex, a concert venue in downtown Salt Lake City. I like The Complex. On one end of the facility is the big stage where bigger bands/artist perform at, and on the other end is the smaller stage where Goldlink was set to perform.
We get there a little early and decided to hang out upstairs at the bar. We had the whole view of the pit and stage, so we stayed up there. The first opener was this adorable DJ. I don’t remember her name but her mixes were fun! She got the crowd going. During her mixes she would grab the mic and start singing with some of the songs. At one point during her mixes she messes up, but it was small and no one really took much notice to it, but she did and let the audience know with a little, “Whoops! My bad!” it was fine though.
The second opener’s name was Mageso. When he walked out, he greeted the audience and nonchalantly put on a Utah Jazz bomber jacket. It got the crowd excited. His DJ was the adorable DJ that opened earlier. His music almost reminded me of Goldlink’s, if Goldlink had more of a hipster sound. He was great! He danced, he would sing and rap, and one point he whipped out a saxophone! He played it for a few of his songs. The crowd went wild! He was really good at the sax! He was also very engaging. He would talk to the crowd and flirt with the women. In one song he would talk about an Android [phone] girl and an iPhone boy. He would ask the ladies in the crowd if they had Androids and the ladies flung their phones in the air! Then the men with their iPhones. They lit up the pit! He would cover some songs here and there. He did a good job. He was very entertaining.
Then Goldlink showed up around 9:15 PM (this will matter in a sec). He stepped out, wearing a bright red and yellow beanie, and the crowd cheered. He was laid back with his whole set. He hardly moved around the stage, or talked with the audience. His music was still dope! Sometimes when an artists performs live they would sound a little different than they would in their singles. Goldlink sounded exactly the same! He also played some covers, and for one of the songs Mageso came out and performed with him. He then performed his song Crew, the one that’s playing all over the radio. He performed it twice. The first time seemed like he didn’t quite enjoy it, so he hyped the crowd and said he wanted a mosh pit! He wanted everyone to have a good time. A couple of other people stepped on stage to join Goldlink. I’m not sure if they sang or rapped or whatever but it was fun. The crowd went wild and everyone was jumping, it was great! After the song was done, there was a moment where all of us were cheering at Goldlink as he stood there with a purple back light behind him. No music was playing, it was him basking in our cheers. Then the back light turned off and he walked off stage. Then the all the stage lights turned on. The show was done, at 9:45 PM. That’s right, 9:45 PM. I’m not exaggerating. His set was only a HALF-HOUR!
The reason why I know it was about a half hour? Before he started I checked the clock at 9:12 PM, wondering when Goldlink would be coming out. A few minutes later he pops up. When the lights turned off, I stood there asking my husband, “Wait, was that it? Is he not coming out for an encore or something?” I pull my phone out and it said 9:45 PM. My husband suggested that we start leaving, but I was optimistic. There’s no way the show was over. He didn’t even play all of his songs, and some of the songs he performed were covers. He has to come back out! Then the room lights turned on, revealing everyone the pit and the bar upstairs. People were still bouncing and jumping, but then they grew tired of waiting and started to head out. I was upset.
I’m a fan of Goldlink and still am, but I was expecting a fun party for at least two hours. He has three albums out, one of them was just release earlier this year. Why didn’t he play a longer set? Why didn’t he play all his songs? It was a fun show but it ended too soon, way too soon. I started to complain to my husband on how lame it was of him to only play for a half hour. He complained on how unappealing he was on stage. I didn’t hear anyone else complaining, but then again I wasn’t really listening that closely to what others were saying.
Once outside we get stopped by these two girls handing out Goldlink stickers and car air fresheners. They asked if we wanted one. I hesitated for a minute, a little embarrassed after complaining so much about the show’s short set, but I accepted the things. I still really like Goldlink, I’m still his fan, so its okay for me to have Goldlink things. This is just a lesson learned that I won’t be attending any of his future shows. One of the girls asked if she could take a picture of us holding the things. My husband and I looked at each other and said, “Sure”. We got our pics taken, then went home.
We gave the show a 6/10. Great openers, fun songs, happy crowd, but not a very engaged headliner, and a super short set. But the Goldlink car freshener smelled of a lovely vanilla, just in case anyone was wondering.
Image Sources: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55a906cae4b02d556a52fff4/t/58cbe6f5a5790a88a8e2e4e4/1489757973677/?format=1500w
http://www.thecomplexslc.com/events/images/resize_1502817331.jpg
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