S. Samuel
Young Money's Drake is continuing to draw live crowds as new reports show his current Light Dreams & Nightmares tour is selling out across the United States.
Reports suggest Drizzy’s sell-outs are coming from popular, highly populated cities including New York and Atlanta.
In support of his full-length Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown debut, “Thank Me Later,” Drake launched his 25-date Light Dreams & Nightmares U.S. tour of large theaters and small arenas Sept. 20 with two sold-out shows at the James L. Knight Center in Miami. At press time, about 80% of the trek was sold out, booking agent Robert Gibbs says. In addition to Miami, sellouts include New York’s Radio City Music Hall (Sept. 28-29), Atlanta’s Fox Theatre (Oct. 6) and the Chicago Theatre (Oct. 13-14). The jaunt also includes two radio show festival dates and an Oct. 30 appearance at Voodoo Experience in New Orleans. It concludes Nov. 6 at the Joint in Las Vegas. (Billboard)
Despite a strong buzz in 2009, Drake’s business manager Shawn Gee revealed his intention of having the rapper perfect his craft with college shows before expanding into booked arenas.
After honing his live chops on the college circuit, which Gee calls a more “forgiving audience,” Drake played large clubs and small theaters (between 1,500- and 2,500-capacity) in the United States and Canada during the summer. Even those 15 successful concerts were “serious underplays given where he was at that time from a recording profile,” Gee says. “By that time he had [20-plus] college shows under his belt and was perfecting the art of performing.”Gee and Gibbs also hoped to build Drake’s live fan base overseas. But the rapper was forced to cancel a handful of European shows in July because of his mother’s health issues. Gee says they hope to reschedule those dates in 2011. (Billboard)
After being promoted as one of the show’s openers, The Clipse‘s Pusha T recently revealed he would not be involved in Drizzy’s tour.
“We’re actually not doing that any longer. I’m going to be fully focused on these solo efforts. No Drake tour. A few spot dates, we’ll be in a city near you soon. But yeah, no more Drake tour.” (Karen Civil)
Rap newcomer Wiz Khalifa also recently passed on an opportunity to tour with Drake.
“It just lets me know that I’m doin’ what I need to be doin’ as far as stayin’ relevant and stayin’ poppin’. But I think to keep me poppin’ and keep me relevant I gotta stay buildin’ on top of what I’m doin’ and what I been doin’. No disrespect to cuz or anybody else who might wanna see me do some more collaborative things, but to keep buildin’ and keep my brand as strong as what it is, I gotta keep focusin’ on what it is. This is my first tour that I got comin’ up, the Waken Baken tour, I gotta at least kick that off and make that it what it is so we can do ten more…I’m real happy for Drake and real proud of Drake. I was lookin’ on the Internet and that [he] made $10 million this year. So maybe when I make $10 million then we can tour.” (XXL Mag)
Check out some recent Drake footage below:
