It was POST MALONE day! The “If Y’all Weren’t Here, I’d Be Crying” tour, for his new album “Austin,” dropping July 28.
A very hot day full of anticipation, excitement, music and a forecast of storms. Hollywood Casino Amphitheater prepared for a sold out event, “rain or shine.” What could go wrong?
The stage crew began unloading semi-trucks full of lights, screens, and pyrotechnics at 6am. I arrived behind the scenes to catch a glimpse of what it takes to set up a stage for such a rockstar. I was so pumped to have a chance to be apart of setting this stage, but it was gonna be 98° this day. It didn’t take long to realize the amount of labor going into setting the venue up, was something I wasn’t fully prepared for. Blood, sweat and tears goes into preparations for all these events, and this was the first time seeing it up close and personal.
The stage finally was set around 3pm, for sound check. At this point I finally got a chance to get out into the growing crowd outside of the venue. It was 90 something degrees, the humidity was getting intense and yet the lines began to form. By 4:30 the lines were well into the parking lot, this sold out event was gonna be one for the books despite the run of bad luck Post Malone has had in Saint Louis.
Posty can’t catch a break here, the forecast was gloomy, and much to my surprise they were somewhat preparing for this.
The opening act Beach Fossils started their set early in hopes the entire show would miss the incoming weather. This band from New York kept everyone on their toes, and got the crowd pumped for Posty!
The storm front was quickly moving in, but still, no rain! The break in temperature was a relief for everyone in attendance and the moment we had been waiting for! The atmosphere was ELECTRIC.
It’s showtime! I don’t care if you like this man’s music or not, his shows are guaranteed to make you feel some type of way.
He performed with a live band, an experience I had yet to see! The lights dropped and a stringed section began; this man has a string section on this tour. It was beautiful.
BOOM! The crowd explodes as Posty came on stage. He opened with his hit Better Now and the crowd lost it! I could no longer hear Posty, I heard the entire venue. It was unlike any other Post Malone concert I’ve ever attended. The stage was insane and set with fans in mind. The lights, the screen, the pyrotechnics. It was contagious and full of life. The crowd was alive. I may have been in a seat, but the entire night felt like I was in the pit.
Post Malone was scheduled to touch base with all of his major hits and a few from his upcoming album. 23 songs total were on the setlist. Did we get through the set list you ask? No! We made it through 19 songs ( 3 from the upcoming album; Enough is Enough being unreleased), before the rain started. The production was cut off when lightning became a threat. Posty made his announcement and left the stage.
WAIT, we wanted more! The crowd chants for Austin to return. The band is gone, house lights came on, I think they wanted us to leave. We stood United and it worked, Post Malone returned to the stage with some heartfelt words and the track for Congratulations is barely heard over the roar of the crowd. By this time, the rain had moved in. A rush of cold sideways rain comes under the pavilion, and a full house of post Malone fans sang as if we were in church. As the song winds down, nothing would prepare us for the end of such an electrified show. The set was cut short by three songs: Broken Whiskey Glass, Sunflower and Chemical.
The crowds flooded in that day to see an amazing artist, but in the end that same crowd was flooded in while trying to leave the show.
