AJ Tracey ‘Live & Direct’ at Alexandra Palace
Following a thread of tweets from the artist anticipating the weekend and soaring tickets sales (resulting in a second night being added !), AJ kicked off his Live & Direct event on Friday night.
Surrounded by a black cage which eventually lifted, the rapper opened the show with his single ‘Doing It’, which lists his current accomplishments.
A wide variety of Tracey’s songs were performed, starting with his new material from the self titled album, 'AJ Tracey (Deluxe)', hits such as 'Psych Out!', 'Migos' and 'Necklace'. For 'Country Star', the sixth track on the album, AJ was accompanied by a guitarist who strummed the acoustic segment of the song.
AJ treated his day 1 fans in the audience to some throwbacks, performing 'LA4AWEEK' with Swoosh and 'Quarterback', which is featured on his 'Secure The Bag!' EP two years ago.
At one point, AJ’s jeweller came out and draped him in a new bejeweled necklace, reading 'Ladbroke Grove', paying homage to his hometown.
‘Mimi’ visuals. Photograph: Lauren Gordon
A flood of UK artists came to support Tracey on the first night of him show. Mostack and Not3s took to the stage to sing 'Butterflies', 'Floss' and 'Fashion Week'. Dave sang the original and all-time favourite 'Thiago Silva' and after supporting him on his EU tour, Skepta brought bags of energy for his performance of the new single 'Kiss & Tell'.
AJ Tracey and Mostack. Photograph: Jack Bridgland
The show was closed with the hit (self-released) single, 'Ladbroke Grove', the garage-inspired track which went platinum in the UK.
The square stage placed in the middle of Ally Pally’s concert hall meant that no matter where you were, you would’ve had an amazing view of what was going on on stage.
AJ’s performances were grouped with hypnotising light sequences, confetti blasts and immersive visuals projected onto the screens above the stage.
For £30 a ticket, AJ put on an incredibly entertaining show, jam packed with effortless performances from himself and his supporting acts resulting in a magnificent start to his Live & Direct weekend.
Watch Saturday's live stream of the Live&Direct tour at Alexandra Palace here.