\n\tTyler, the Creator has a PhD in the art of the pop-up show. His formula: Randomly drop the flyer on social media, set a low enough price to get everyone to mentally buy into it, watch disappointed fans bemoan coming up empty-handed after waiting in the virtual queue, and prepare for who shows up for the party.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tHe got a practice run at this after dropping Chromakopia\u00a0in November and throwing a spur-of-the-moment 30-minute listening session in New York at the Brooklyn Army Terminal for $5 a head.\u00a0Tyler solidified the strategy with his Wednesday surprise listening party to promote his latest 10-track LP, Don\u2019t Tap The Glass. This time, tickets were $10 and even more for resale. \u201cMy friend\u2019s tickets were $70,\u201d said 21-year-old Kayla Poole, who just attended the Chronakopia show at Madison Square Garden nearly a week ago. \u201cI had to come because I didn\u2019t think he was going to have a tour [for this album].\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe dancing-required playback was set under New York\u2019s Kosciusko Bridge, connecting Queens and Brooklyn among barren warehouses and hazardous waste centers \u2014 a destination requiring me to take three trains and a bus and one that moved an attendee in the bus row in front of me to send a\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m a real New Yorker now\u201d text to their groupchat as they finished the last leg of the journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tWith the nearly two-hour void between doors opening and Tyler gracing the stage, fans were able to shop new Don\u2019t Tap merch, grab a basket of food truck chicken tenders, or stand on their feet and contemplate if they would actually follow Tyler\u2019s directions and move their bodies tonight. Sade songs and jazz selections played to unsuccessfully satiate the eager audience. \u201cTyler, please hurry the fuck up,\u201d one exasperated fan yelled behind me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tAfter people found or, in some cases, shoved their way into the perfect viewing spot, Tyler eventually emerged wearing a blue leather matching set (in July), adorned with a red \u2018GLASS\u2019 hat and gloves, and a gold piece in his mouth to match his rope chain. Two giant yellow subwoofer tower speakers flanked his stage to complete a visual primary color wheel. \u201cImma press play on this bitch and Imma come rock with y\u2019all,\u201d he said while pointing out to the audience. \u201cI might pop back out on this [stage] for one of my favorite songs, but I want to be in the crowd with y\u2019all.\u201d As soon as the intro for the album\u2019s first song, \u201cBig Poe,\u201d featuring Pharrell and vocals from Busta Rhymes, began, the cellphones in the air were shifted toward his new platform, center-right of the crowd. The sea of early twentysomethings jumped at Tyler\u2019s command while Busta\u2019s \u201cPass the Courvoisier\u201d sample blared to an audience that was mostly born after the 2002 hit.<\/p>\n
\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n
\n\tAs the album played through, smartphones faded as the mystique of the Odd Future leader\u2019s presence died down. Tyler continued to stay on theme by popping his elbows and keeping his hip flexors loose with 360 degrees of gyration. He only broke his dancing to perform his album favorite,\u00a0 \u201cStop Playing With Me,\u201d with the high throttle energy of someone you\u2019d never guess is in the middle of a world tour right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cY\u2019all good?\u201d he asked the crowd. \u201cY\u2019all sweating yet?\u201d After commenting on an onlooker with a green hat, he shifted platforms and joined the left side of the audience for the back half of the album, starting with the title track \u201cDon\u2019t Tap That Glass \/ Tweakin\u2019.\u201d Inflatable beach balls, French fries, and bomb pops appeared out of thin air, thanks to off-stage staffers, to encourage crowd participation in a game of keepy-uppy during \u201cDon\u2019t You Worry Baby,\u201d featuring emerging R&B singer Madison McFerrin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n
\n\tTyler repeatedly expressed his gratitude to the throng of dance partners surrounding him. \u201cI\u2019m still on tour for \u2018Chromakopia\u2019,\u201d he reminded both the audience and, maybe, himself. Despite giving 110% for the full 28-minute playback, he proclaimed, \u201cI\u2019m not fully sweating yet, run it back \u2018til they kick us out.\u201d On demand, the album\u2019s intro started again, giving everyone under the suspension bridge a simultaneous Deja Vu.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n
\n\tOn the second run through of Don\u2019t Tap, I joined my peers who are approaching 30 or have lived in the decade for quite some time. Instead of moshing and rubbing bodies, this crowd was dancing with fluidity, locking lips with no inhibitions, vibing out to take in the view, or contemplating when and what would be a good exit strategy to \u201cbeat the crowd.\u201d Turns out, the man of the hour should\u2019ve made his way with me to this section as the night progressed. \u201cBitch, I\u2019m tired.. Goddamn,\u201d he told the crowd right before the second play of the second-to-last song. Just a day earlier and a day after releasing Don\u2019t Tap he was performing in Montreal. \u201cI\u2019m so tired mentally, physically \u2026 I\u2019m so weak.\u201d He cut out a bit early as the last songs played to prepare for his Thursday show in Toronto, but not before stamping the night with a tweet that simply said, \u201cSWEATING.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tyler, the Creator has a PhD in the art of the pop-up show. His formula: Randomly drop the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":89062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,54252,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-89061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-tyler-the-creator","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}