It’s not quite as big as the Air Canada Centre, but it’s probably the next biggest venue available in the winter months, and the biggest Tyler has headlined in Toronto to date. It’s quite possible that this would be the very first rap concert held at the arena, as in my years of concert-going I’ve never heard of anything other than hockey games and skating events being held at Ricoh. Joining Tyler The Creator on this tour would be fellow California rapper Vince Staples, and they would be just passing the halfway point with this stop at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto.

The day-one fans definitely showed up to find out, as the long line to get into the venue had plenty of Odd Future/Golf Wang clothing on display.

After seeing his acclaimed Tiny Desk Concert featuring new songs off of Flower Boy, one had to wonder how he would balance this new laid back vibe with the old aggression, or if he would even perform much of his older work at all. In the past, you could expect Tyler’s concerts to have mosh pits breaking out, crowd surfing fans, and to be shouting lyrics like “kill people, burn shit, fuck school!”. The youthful aggression is pulled back, and Tyler has put most of his focus into crafting lush, mellow sounds for his instrumentals to go with his more mature thoughts, creating a more relaxing listen. Long gone are the days when Tyler was portraying his disturbed fictional character on the Bastard – Goblin – Wolf trilogy, as we’re now getting a raw, transparent display of his true personality. Not only is the new album his most universally, critically acclaimed release to date, but the growth in character and musicianship has caused a vast departure from the Tyler fans have known for years.

In 2017 he released his fifth album, Scum Fuck Flower Boy(commonly known as Flower Boy), which has brought on a dramatic shift in his career. It’s a really interesting time in Tyler The Creator’s career to be seeing him perform live.

Tyler the creator flower boy concert