Lil Nas X Introduces the Man Behind the Meme at New York’s Radio City: Review and Setlist
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The post Lil Nas X Introduces the Man Behind the Meme at New York’s Radio City: Review and Setlist appeared first on Consequence.
When arriving at a show on the “Long Live Montero Tour” (grab tickets to remaining dates here), you’re first greeted by venue security handing you a Playbill. It’s a jarring experience — particularly, as was the case at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on September 20th, when a local radio DJ is warming up the audience by blasting songs you might have attempted to grind to at a homecoming dance. But this Playbill actually sets the scene well: It has a photo of Lil Nas X on the front, adorned with butterfly wings and all.
“I hate writing stuff that isn’t music but my people are forcing me at gunpoint to write this welcome note,” reads the first page in a hand-scribbled passage from the rapper, who certainly isn’t known for doing things in earnest. “This play is about my journey, what I’ve been through, me being out of breath while performing and my aspirations to continue on my path in life.”
Notice the use of the word “play.” Especially with glimpses of that Playbill yellow around you, the “Long Live Montero Tour” feels something like a Broadway production. And when the curtains finally open on Lil Nas X — a.k.a. Montero Lamar Hill himself — you can tell right away that he feels right at home.
The show is split into three “Acts,” which appear to respectively encapsulate Lil Nas X’s reclusive youth, the process of finding himself, and, finally embracing who he has become now at 23. He opens with the 2019 track “Panini,” which gets its name from the overly sentimental character on the late-aughts Cartoon Network series Chowder. Even amid Lil Nas X’s crew of raunchy, voguing backup dancers, it feels like a subtle nod to his childhood that becomes more heartbreaking as the setlist proceeds to “Sun Goes Down.”
For the melancholy ballad, the set design transforms into a childhood bedroom as Lil Nas X sings of feeling outcast: “I wanna run away/ Don’t wanna lie, I don’t want a life,” he sings, as he recalls memories of stanning Nicki Minaj and creating memes as an escape. After the set goes dark again, a screen rolls down showing projections of phone and computer screens.
The ensuing clip is short, but it’s necessary to remind us from where Lil Nas X came. At this point, it’s hard to imagine that few outside his personal circle even knew his name four years ago. But with the help of a beat he bought for $30, Montero Hill wrote, recorded, and released “Old Town Road” on a whim; three months later, Lil Nas X had his first Billboard Hot 100 hit. The clip summarizes the song’s ascent, and feels like just as much of a whirlwind as it probably did in real time.
One outfit change later, Lil Nas X re-emerges onstage with — you guessed it — a horse, and he closes Act I with a triumphant rendition of “Old Town Road” (that briefly mashes up with “Rodeo”). We won’t look too hard to find any deeper meaning of the song that started as a meme, but its placement at the end of the act feels incredibly significant. Whether that old town road is a real place or not, it sure did set the precedent for Lil Nas X to ride out the rest of his life more freely.
Lil Nas X, photo by Aaron Idelson
The “Long Live Montero Tour” is unabashedly campy and outrageous, but it’s all done with an air of self-awareness. Sure, the show is filled with some NSFW dances, blinding sequins, giant butterfly wings, and even an onstage twerking battle with fans, but we also need to take into account that the Lil Nas X we now recognize as a queer icon didn’t always have it easy.
He only came out to his father, a gospel singer, in June 2019 — well after the Billy Ray Cyrus-assisted “Old Town Road” was a No. 1 hit. Amid the concert’s latter half, we’re shown another clip that takes place in a church: A 10-year-old Montero (played by a child actor) is sitting in the pews amid a sea of evangelicals trying to pray the gay out of him, led by a wacky pastor played by Lil Nas X. Juxtaposed with the following song, it packs an emotional punch.
Act II is the most euphoric of all: All hell breaks loose with a euphoric performance of “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name),” a song that not only solidifies how happy Lil Nas X is with how far he’s come, but proves he isn’t a one-hit wonder.
Sure, this is his first tour, but he’s known he’s in the right place: “Everything lined up for this moment to take me to this place,” he told TIME in 2019. “Not to sound self-centered, but it feels like I’m chosen, in a way, to do this stuff.” From the show’s opening to the moment that the curtain closes after “Industry Baby,” you have to believe there was a little magic working as the one-time meme lord became a fully-fledged pop star.
Setlist:
Panini
Tales of Dominica
Sun Goes Down
A Visit from a Friend
Old Town Road/Rodeo
Dead Right Now
Don’t Want It
Pure/Honey
That’s What I Want
Lost in the Citadel
The Burial of Satan
Montero (Call Me By Your Name)
Down Souf Hoes
Scoop
Industry Baby
Lil Nas X Introduces the Man Behind the Meme at New York’s Radio City: Review and Setlist
Abby Jones
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