Tuesday, October 12th, was the date of the Don Toliver concert at the Ritz in Raleigh. Don Toliver, also known by his real name as Caleb Toliver, is a rapper and singer from Houston, Texas. He originally started gathering mainstream attention in 2019 after being discovered by Travis Scott. He owes a lot of his success to having quite a few of his songs blow up on social media platforms such as TikTok. He’s best known for his songs “No Idea,” “Afterparty,” and “Cardigan,” and he collaborated with Travis Scott on his album Jackboys.
At the concert he performed the entirety of his second album, titled Life of A Don, which dropped October 8th. This album comes just a year after his successful debut album, Heaven or Hell. I attended the concert with my friend and Middle Creek senior, Sydney Harrison.
The concert was at The Ritz in Raleigh, which is a smaller, club-like venue not too far from downtown. It was very crowded, with people packed in tight against each other, each trying to get closer to the front. When we first arrived at the show, the opener, singer/rapper Bia, best known for her song “Whole Lotta Money” featuring Nicki Minaj, was performing. She looked stunning and did a good job getting the crowd hyped up.
After her set, which lasted about 30 minutes, popular rap songs were played from the speaker leading up to Don Toliver's entrance. With loud music pumping through speakers, smoke machines, and lights flashing, the crowd hardly seemed to notice the long delay before Toliver’s set started.
Then, suddenly, Don Toliver appeared on stage and yelled to get the crowd's attention. Everyone calmed down a bit and Toliver greeted the crowd. He then started his set with arguably his most popular song: “Afterparty.” The crowd started jumping and singing as loud as they could while Toliver really got into it on stage. It was a really fun and carefree atmosphere.
The show went on for about an hour or so, with the crowd screaming and dancing the whole time. He closed the show with his popular song and one of my favorites, “Can’t Feel My Legs,” before thanking everyone for coming out.
I think that the show was a little short, but nonetheless he had a good set and really got the crowd hyped. Everyone seemed to enjoy the concert and from what I’ve seen the new album is doing pretty well. I think he could do a better job at extending his show time and maybe he should’ve waited a bit longer after dropping the album before he began touring it.
Overall, though, the concert was a fun experience and I recommend anyone who is a fan of his to check out one of his shows the next time he comes to town.
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