Denzel Curry Came Out the ZUU at First Ave

Growing up all I ever listened to was rock and punk. I idolized and worship The Clash and The Who. Their ambitious style and not caring attitude drove me to dig into other bands like them. Obviously, today, the classic punk and rock scene has morphed and I remember reading an interview with Pete Townshend of The Who. He claimed that he didn’t listen to much rock anymore but more hip hop and rap because thats where the game is. That’s the scene where everyone is trying to one up each other and push the envelope. That made me think and listen. And you know what? He’s right rap and hip hop is 100% the new rock and roll with the energy of punk rock and Denzel Curry confirmed that.

On the night of the show I found myself in the car with my buddy who introduced me to Curry. About half way there he realized that he had forgot his ticket. It was unfortunate but we needed to go back. He missed the ZUU last time and he wouldn’t miss it again. When we finally pulled back up we had almost missed the first opener “Deniro Farrar”. From what I heard they got the crowd moving and gave the early bird an unforgettable time.

When we walked into First Ave, Allan Kingdom was on stage and the floor of First Avenue was moving like a sea. The crowd was erupting for Kingdom as he laid his heart and soul on the stage. Let’s just say his hometown honed into what the hometown hero was hurling at them. Kingdom left the stage with the roar of the crowd at his back and some major new clout.

Then, with the quickest change over in music history (10 minutes) the screen rose to an open stage. Then, Curry’s Dj, Poshtronaut, hit the stage and amped the crowd up and started the beginning of the song “ZUU”. Curry’s voice came to life off stage. As we all sat in anticipation, he entered the stage and the crowd pushed forward crushing people in the front, trying to get as close as they could. Right as the beat dropped I looked over towards the stairs and saw a man midway up, jump the rail into the crowd. At that second I knew this could be one of the shows of the year.

Curry went non-stop for an hour playing all his hits. such as “SPEEDBOAT” and “RICKY”. At one point during the show Curry made the already made the crowd go crazy, but that wasn’t enough, he wanted to take it one step further. He told the crowd to make a square and said “I don’t wanna see nobody in that center till this bass hits!”. When that bass hit, the crowd ran together in a way more epic way than the infamous wall of death.  

Near the end of the set Curry said he felt like a bull but not any bull, a bull on parade. Then went into his cover “Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine. The crowd instantly scream as Curry went cranked song out. I have heard a lot of Rage Against the Machine covers but non more energetic and spot on than his version.

Curry closed the set with the song “Ultimate”.  From the opening line to the closing line the crowd did not stop rapping with him. The audience knew this was it so then went hard in the pit. An epic ending for an epic show. When the song ended, Curry and Poshtronaut said “That’s it, thats all we got!” and walked off the stage to a crowd chanting “DEN-ZEL! DEN-ZEL!”.