Photos by Amy Buck
The Happy Camper Tour hits Toronto and let’s just says, everyone left sweating, exhausted , a happy camper. I arrived a bit early, to my knowledge, my ticket read doors at 7:00pm, which I knew that as concert goer, that meant waiting in line, people rush in when it’s 7:00pm and the show starts at 7:30pm. I, who was rushing and late due to some terrible traffic, ran to the venue. Once I got in, I noticed Hoodie Allen on the side, at his merch table talking to fans before the show. I found it cool of him to spent the first half of his show interacting with people who support him, I saw a couple of fans dying to taking photos with him, whispering “Oh my god, He’s right there!” I automatically knew I was in for a good show.
The first artist to take stage was a local Toronto rapper named PRYDE. Now, originally on the bill, BlackBear was supposed to be Hoodie’s opener but due to some unfortunate events, he couldn’t make it. PRYED, a 22 year old tattooed Torontonian rapper told the audience how he received a text from Hoodie at one in the morning prior to the show asking him to be his opener. Nevertheless, fans were not disappointed with BlackBear’s understudy. With a DIY banner reading “PRYDE” on stage and a friend of his, the audience was enlightened that there was a home town rapper reppin’ their city. I wasn’t too familiar with PRYDE but after hearing his music, it did make me think about seeing him again. His music, speaking on many different lives of personal issues, did not stop him from making sure the crowd was having a great time, his closing was my most favorite entitled “Way Up” which he dedicated to his mom.
Superduper Kyle put on a show like I’ve never seen before. Opening his set with a light saber fight with his co-star brick, the stage was Super Mario themed with bright colors and flashing lights. The entire stage felt like it was transformed into a 90’s TV show, like a cross between the The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The 90’s video-game Super Smash Bros, which Kyle confessed his love for many times during the night, which I thought was awesome cause Super Smash Bros is probably the best Nintendo game ever. I’ve never heard of Superduper Kyle prior to attending the show but after the show, I was definitely looking into him. The Ventura native artist filled the night with synchronized dancing, crowd surfing- no literally- Kyle got out his surf board and let fans hold up the board for him so he could dance and sing. I thought it was a bold move and couldn’t be done but his fans were ever so surprising. He closed off his set with “Really, Yeah? “ Off his newest album “SMYLE” and which I, now, have playing on my phone.
Now the moment everyone was waiting for, after waiting 15 minutes! Hoodie Allen takes stage and everyone goes completely nuts! Okay not completely, but everyone was in awe of Hoodie, it was nice to see how connected it felt inside the music hall, everyone had smiles on their faces, people taking photos as he opened up his first song of the night from his latest album, Happy Camper, called Intro to Anxiety. The album, in which, he had wrote and self-released himself, also claiming a #2 spot on Billboard’s Uncharted. Talk about the ultimate DIY artist in the hip-hop scene. I personally loved his set, he had amazing stage effects and intense lighting happening at all times, with adorable Emoji screen behind him flashing his logo as well. Never failing to interact with his crowd, during “Small Town” Hoodie directed the audience to crouch down. Once the beat dropped, it felt as if the whole room was shaking with every screaming their lungs out to every word he was singing. The cohesive nature of the audience was inspiring. One thing I remember so lividly was when Hoodie made his way to the back, right below the seated audience above him, in the music hall. I thought I was very cool of him to give those in the higher level seating a chance to see him a bit closer, as well as fans that were not as close to the stage. He performed his song “Cake Boy” and towards the ending of his song, brought out two cakes and threw them at a fan, whom, was extremely ready to get caked in the face. Definitely felt like a once in a life time kinda thing, sorta like a “You had to have been there, man!” Self-recording, producing and writing, is there anything he can’t do? Hoodie Allen was incredible, singing a couple of snippets of songs within his own, my personal favorite when he covered Twenty One Pilots “Stressed Out”. Closing his show with and encore of “No Interruptions” everyone left the music hall , feeling happy, as he stated earlier in the night “I want everyone to leave here as a happy camper!” Now, I was supposed to see Hoodie initially for the first time last year when he was on tour with Fall Out Boy on their “2015, Boyz of Zummer” tour. Of course, I, being late to almost everything missed his set but that night I was pretty happy that I got a rain check on his show.