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On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of Syracuse University students crowded outside of the Schine Student Center to catch a glimpse of rapper and pop musician The Kid Laroi as he briefly visited campus. Later, thousands packed the OnCenter to see him perform.

“There are so many people there for the same reason… it helps create a bond between everyone,” said Jacob Jasnik, who attended the concert.

The Kid Laroi made his presence felt as he kicked off his ‘Bleed for You’ tour on Wednesday night at the OnCenter. The 19-year-old rapper has built up a youthful audience through his relatable lyrics and versatility to move from rap to an emo-pop style, popularized by artists like Juice Wrld and Lil Uzi Vert. Laroi engaged the crowd throughout while playing a wide array of his hit songs.

Syracuse is the first stop on Laroi’s month-long tour of college campuses all over the country. When the tour was announced, SU freshman Sean Jordan was thrilled to find out one of his favorite artists would be performing.

“He’s our age, so it’s smart he’s coming to college campuses because he’s able to connect with those people on a deeper level,” Jordan said.

Laroi opened with an energetic and passionate performance of his new single “I Can’t Go Back To The Way It Was.” He then played music across his catalog, spanning from his EP “F Love” to his newer singles.

Jasnik, like many others, discovered Laroi through Juice Wrld. At 15 years old, Laroi started making music in Australia before being introduced to Juice Wrld, who took him under his wing before his death in 2019. From there, Laroi grew in popularity after getting signed to Juice Wrld’s label, Grade A Productions.

The artist paid tribute to his late friend during the concert. “Long live Juice” chants reigned down before Laroi played “GO,” a song featuring Juice Wrld that was released after his death. Laroi also played “TELL ME WHY,” another emotional tribute to his friend.

Laroi’s vulnerability is a big factor for people when listening to his music, said Donovan Marriotc another audience member, which is why people feel so close to him.

At one point, Laroi even jumped into the crowd to play ‘WRONG’, followed up by ‘NOT FAIR’ and ‘SELFISH’. During a pause, fans started chanting his name. He took a moment to look out into the crowd, and mentioned how seeing that many people at a show just for him was a lot to take in.

Audience member Joelle Grady and her sister Gillian live just outside New York City, and they saw Laroi perform at Rolling Loud during the summer. At Rolling Loud, they met Jasnik and Marriotc, who attend SU. They exchanged contact information, and once they realized Laroi was going on tour again, they reconnected.

“He’s creating a legacy for himself,” Marriotc said. “He’s trying to be himself, really…that’s why there’s fans here and they support him.”

At the start of his musical journey, Laroi took on more of a rap style, but as time has gone on, he’s started releasing more pop music. The artist hasn’t forgotten his roots, playing songs like ‘Diva’ and ‘Same Energy’ that show off more of his rapping ability, audience member Kyle Sage said.

Recently, Laroi has started to become more mainstream, Joelle said, creating radio hits like ‘Stay’ with Justin Beiber, which he performed on Wednesday to one of the loudest ovations of the night. His fans aren’t too concerned with his change of style, with most of them feeling that his versatility is what makes him so special, Joelle said.

Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor

“I have no problem with him branching out and collabing with Justin Bieber and Post Malone,” Gillian said. “I think as long as he’s happy making music and we’re happy listening to it, I say go big or go home.”

Many of Laroi’s songs detail his challenges with love and dealing with relationships. To emphasize this, Laroi took a moment to pause towards the middle of the concert. As he stood on the stage, he asked people to raise their hand if they’d ever been heartbroken before. A plethora of hands went up in the audience.

Laroi walked down to the crowd again. Going up to a singular girl in the crowd, he asked her to reveal the name of her first heartbreak. Once she said the name, the crowd erupted into a frenzy as Laroi played “F*CK YOU, GOODBYE.”

Throughout the concert, Laroi played more of his emotional songs like “NOT FAIR,” “TRAGIC” and “ALWAYS DO.”

“His album got me through a really hard time in my life,” Gillian said. “That’s when I started connecting with him. His music just touches your heart.”

This year, Laroi dropped multiple singles, some of which he performed on Wednesday. Sage was hoping for Laroi’s new album, which he’s teased for nearly a year, to be released before the tour, but it still hasn’t dropped.

“I thought he was going to release this album before he went on tour, but we’re still waiting on that,” Sage said. “I even thought back in 2022 he was going to drop it, but we just have to be patient.”

Sage said that he already knew most of Laroi’s unreleased songs, as some were leaked. He was one of the many people anticipating Laroi to perform some unreleased singles the artist has teased on social media. To the audience’s delight, Laroi played ‘What Just Happened,’ a single which he said was coming out soon and he’d just shot a music video for.

To finish out his set, Laroi asked for people to put their phones away and listen closely to the lyrics of the next song. Laroi played ‘Where Does Your Spirit Go,’ another popular unreleased song, before walking off the stage.

After the crowd yelled out for one more song, Laroi returned for an encore playing ‘Without You’ before sending a message to the crowd.

“We’re all a family. If you’re ever going through anything, I want to let you know you’ll get through it,” Laroi said.

After the concert, Jordan left satisfied with the performance, citing Laroi’s interaction with the crowd and his high energy.

“I haven’t been to many concerts in my life, but I had a really good time.” Jordan said “He was really good as a performer, and the music was awesome. It was just a really good experience… It seemed like he really liked Syracuse.”

Published on March 23, 2023 at 2:52 am

Contact Zak: zakwolf784254@gmail.com | @ZakWolf22