Review: Wiz Khalifa @ The Olympia 12th November 2011
Review: Ros Madigan
Photography: Aidan McCarthy
This was to be my first venture to see Mr.Cameron Jibril Thomaz, or to refer to him as a name you might recognize: Wiz Khalifa. The date was set for the 12th of November. The venue: The Olympia. The Olympia is not usually a venue you might associate with music such as this, but in the past few years, we have seen a push to accommodate such hip hop/rap artists such as Wiz.
Wiz Khalifa has shot to fame in the past year or so after having reasonable success with his albums and mix tapes under Warner Bros. Records. It has been, of course, under Atlantic Records that Wiz has climbed to the top of the hip-hop game. This was aided by the roaring success of his debut single, “Black and Yellow” which reached the number one spot in America.
Upon entering the venue it was clear that this gig had attracted a rather young audience, with some members of the crowd no more than 14 years of age. Nonetheless, these youngsters were decked out in their confirmation gear (not so much) for their main man to take to the stage. It wasn’t long until the incredibly eclectic bunch of people in the crowd had to wait before Wiz took to the stage.
Flanked by two huge bodyguards, who would stand to the left and right of the stage for the rest of the gig. I wasn’t sure what kind of protection Wiz Khalifa might need against a pack of screaming prepubescent children but in any case, these guys meant business as you can see here(Evidence from a previous gig).
Wiz would open the show with ‘When I’m Gone’ which would go down like a treat with a whole load of the Irish crowd getting their gangster appreciation hand out (I’m not too sure either). Unfortunately the first half of the show was to be the poorest as Wiz would treat his hardest of fans to a collection of tracks from his older albums and mix tapes. It’s an understatement to note that my hip hop/rap gig attendance is very infrequent, so maybe calling all your fans “mother f*#kers” is cool at these type of gigs. This crop of Wiz Kids seem to have loved it in any case.
The next few songs in Wiz Khalifas set would take in the subjects of “Gangbang”(Gangbang), “Rolling Up”(Heart & Soul) and “Rolling them doobies up(In The Cut). You can see where the theme was to lie for the night. Then a most bizarre event was to take place as three grown men dressed in Taylor Gang branded sweat pants and tops would come on to “Taylor Gang” and jump up and down for no apparent reason. The Taylor Gang are the name for Wiz Khalifa fans, created because of Wiz’ great love for Chuck Taylor Converse shoes. The 3 men however made less sense as a clear attempt to sell merchandise after the show was well underway.
Luckily enough for myself and everyone else, the gig was about to take a turn for the better as the second half of the show reminded us all what we had come out for. ‘Wake Up’ was the first of a number of great songs that Wiz was to play. He then continued to bash out ‘I Had A Dream’, ‘Party All Night’ and ‘Roll Up’.
We would then be treated to the song that launched Wiz to so many people around the world, a song about his beloved Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and their colours – ‘Black and Yellow’. Everyone in the crowd was in full voice as they recited each syllable back to Wiz. Easily the stand out track of the night. Wiz left the stage momentarily only to return to a chorus of “Ole Ole Ole Ole” and the inevitable “One more tune”. He did just that and treated us to a euphoric performance of ‘Cameras’.
As he left to the stage and we all filtered out, it was clear that everyone had enjoyed the gig itself. Even though the first half of the show was rather mediocre and that there were more than one occasion to laugh out loud at the antics on stage, it was still an enjoyable hour and a half of an experience. I’m not too sure if I’m a fully converted “Taylor Gang” member or even a “Wiz Kid”, either way, top marks for trying.