I feel like I should make an RTJ post, since seeing them was incredible. I saw them on Friday and it was one of the best shows of my life, for sure. There was three openers. The first openers was a group called David Ruffen Theory. These guys went hard. They got the crowd extremely hyped even though most people did not know who they were, and really got everyone stoked for RTJ. The second and third opener, Despot and Ratking, were solid too. Despot was dressed super well, but he was much more laid back and not very "hype". I hadn't heard of him but he'd be good smoking music. Ratking was kind of disappointing. He seemed very trashy and was just kind of sloppy, but it wasn't terrible.
Between the first and second openers, there was this group of people that pushed their way into our spots, and we ultimately got set back three rows or so. These people were super obnoxious and very drunk and annoying. It was very disheartening and got me pretty down, but then RTJ came on, they got shoved out, and all was right.
The show itself was incredible. Mike and El-P killed it. Other rappers I seen (sans Kendrick) do not bring nearly as much hype as these guys do. They were also super down to earth during the show, and signed some records that people in the front row were holding up.
After the show is when the night turned to be just stellar. As we were waiting for the crowd to clear out, Mike and El were walking around and eventually ended up at the merch booth to sign shit and talk. We were one of the last people getting out of the venue, so we got to talk to them for a bit. Mike said he loved my shirt and asked to sign it. I told him to write something inspirational, and was not disappointed. I also bought the new album on vinyl and had them sign it. It was a wild night.
Here is some pics:
One more thing - RTJ played in St. Louis yesterday, the same day as the Ferguson decision. Regardless of what you think and what you believe, the speech Mike gave before going on stage was very powerful. I encourage you to check it out.