Ohio native and rapper Trippie Redd is currently on tour for his new album release, Trip at Knight, and fans like myself are going crazy for it. Trippie Redd also brought rappers K Suave and SoFaygo along with him on tour. The Trip at Knight tour consists of 25 different locations all across the United States, and I was fortunate enough to attend the Raleigh, North Carolina show. The concert was held on September 15th, 2021 at Red Hat Amphitheater, which is in the heart of Raleigh. Despite the humid weather, very expensive concession prices, and lack of hydration, the Trippie concert was an experience of a lifetime.
Due to Covid-19, I hadn’t been to a concert since April of 2019, and I was itching for concert season to return. Only a few days after Trippie Redd announced the tour, my friends and I rushed to buy not just any tickets, but pit tickets. The tickets burned a $160-hole in my wallet, but the memories I made, plus the continuous joy and adrenaline I felt, exceeded any cost.
Arriving at the concert, parking was pretty hectic, but after a good 10-15 minutes of driving around, we found a nearby parking garage. Following the parking process came security checks and long lines for the concert, but those went fairly smoothly. Since we arrived pretty early, there still weren't many people in attendance, which worried me because I wanted a large and energetic crowd.
My worry of small crowds began to quickly fade when K Suave took the stage and I looked behind me to find nothing but a load of jumping people. K Suave is an underground artist, so his name isn’t the most popular among rap listeners today, but the energy he brought surely surpassed any prior expectations that I had. K Suave's set was pretty lit, especially the concluding song where he hopped in the crowd and opened up a mosh pit that quickly closed at the speed of light.
After only a couple song performances I was already drenched in sweat and fiending for something to quench my thirst. Therefore, I went to the concession stand and forced myself to purchase a water bottle for the overpriced amount of $4. I was only able to drink half of that water as the rest got stomped out in the crowd when I set it down for only 10 seconds. The fact that SoFaygo’s set was about to come up erased my dissapointment about the water even though my dehydration was only going to get worse from there.
As the sun began to set, pink lights on the stage overtook my vision and I heard “Off the Map” begin to play. SoFaygo came out with great energy, keeping the crowd steadily jumping around and people running into one another. Girls absolutely love Sofaygo, so I had high-pitched screaming in my ear for a good 20-30 minutes, but I didn’t mind because I was having an amazing time. SoFaygo did a great job communicating with the crowd by asking questions like, “Are y’all having a good time tonight?” Of course we all screamed back, “Yeaaaahhhh!”.
Due to the fact that people who were on the lawn and people who had seat tickets entered the pit area, Trippie Redd’s set was delayed as venue workers asked everyone to leave the pit area. It took about 25 minutes for everyone to clear out of the pit area. My friends and I were very annoyed since we paid $160 for tickets while these other people didn’t but got the same benefits as us. They finally let us back into the pit area and everyone sprinted back in to reclaim the spot they previously held.
“Trippie! Trippie! Trippie!” The whole crowd chanted and demanded for Trippie to come out and our wishes were quickly answered. Trippie started off with “Supernatural.” I could feel the bass throughout my whole body. It was insane: the flashing lights filled my vision and made everything look like it was in slow motion. Despite Red Hat Amphitheater being of smaller size, Trippie let us know he was impressed with the energy that we brought. The next few songs, like “Super Cell” and “Demon Time,” caused immediate mosh pits, which scared some people but not me; I made sure I was in every pit.
When the beat dropped we continued to jump up and down, pushing each other around, and screaming the lyrics at the top of our lungs. The dehydration and exhaustion took over my body, making me feel like a zombie. I even had a few people ask, “Are you okay?” However, I continued to go crazy for Trippie and truly got my money's worth. Trippie ended the concert with some old songs that are nostalgic to me like “Wish” and “Taking a Walk.” I was really tired, so these slower songs were a relief for me.
Overall, music is one of the most important things to me as a person, and there’s nothing better than seeing your favorite artists perform that music live. My friends and I reminisced about the concert for weeks after it happened, as it was truly the time of our lives and we would do anything to go back. Now that concert season is beginning to return, I’ll surely keep my eye out for others coming to town. When Trippie Redd returns to this area, I highly recommend buying tickets. You won’t regret it.