Travis Scott in superstar mode at Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum; why were ticket sales so soft?

Travis Scott had the most popular hip-hop album released in 2023, according to Billboard. But is it possible he’s no longer a superstar?

That’s the conundrum that seemed to play out during the Milwaukee stop of his “Circus Maximus” tour at Fiserv Forum Wednesday.

Granted, the Milwaukee Bucks arena looked pretty full. But a look at Ticketmaster, and especially secondhand ticket sites earlier Wednesday, told a different story: Demand for this show was weak.

Scores of first-hand tickets were still available and going for as low as $36.50 before fees — $20 less than the initial cost for a "cheap seat" when the show was announced in November. Through resale sites StubHub, Seat Geek and Vivid Seats, several tickets were going for between $20 and $30 Wednesday, in one case even as low as $18 — a jaw-dropping price for an artist of Scott’s pedigree, especially in the booming post-pandemic concert marketplace where ticket prices are reaching new heights.

Did a tour stop on a cold January Wednesday night in Milwaukee hurt sales? Maybe it was a factor — excep that USA TODAY and other outlets have reported similar issues for other tour stops. Another possible culprit: Scott’s latest album “Utopia,” despite its popularity, drew mixed reactions, with just a single song barely cracking the yearend Billboard Hot 100 chart.

And then there’s Astroworld. Scott rose to the A-list for his intense live shows, where fans were encouraged to “rage.” That came under heightened scrutiny after 10 people died from asphyxiation due to crowd surges during his performance at his Astroworld festival in his native Houston in 2021. (An additional 25 people were hospitalized; 300 people were treated on site for injuries.)

No one was charged with a crime, although there have been lots of lawsuits. A potential stigma remains, and an association with a tragedy that Scott will never completely shake.

But in terms of his reputation as a visceral live performer, Scott showed Wednesday that he is undeterred.

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"Open that (expletive) up," a discombobulated female voice robotically proclaimed at the start of Wednesday's hour-and-47-minute set. Fans in the pit (mostly men in their teens and early twenties), surrounding a sprawling stage that looked like a temple from an "Indiana Jones" movie, took their cue to gear up for some moshing, the shoving and bouncing bodies complemented by Scott's swagger-swinging entrance and plenty of pyro for opening number "Hyaena."

Despite the heightened adrenaline at the jump, the “raging” wasn’t as consistent as media reports and Scott’s own 2019 Netflix documentary suggested. There were several calm songs — "Maria I'm Drunk," tour rarity "Drugs You Should Try It," "God's Country," closing number "Telekinesis" (the latter two from "Utopia") — that were some of the weaker moments of the show, but understandably essential so fans and Scott could catch a breath.

Another weakness: some of the boneheaded, at times vacuous lyrics. They've been an issue throughout Scott's discography, but five albums deep, they're becoming embarrassing, and were a focal point of criticism lodged at "Utopia." The setlist wasn't spared of clunkers, like when he likened a certain body part to, groan, the Eiffel Tower during "Utopia" banger "Modern Jam" Wednesday.

Like his lyrics, Scott's flow also hasn't been his forte, although his tongue-twisting, breathless delivery over the climax of "My Eyes" — the "Utopia" song that most clearly (and briefly) expresses his sorrow over Astroworld — was impressive and invigorating. His greatest strength is in conveying mood, and energy remains his most effective mode.

A flying leap across the stage for Lil Uzi Vert collaboration "Aye," wild marionette-mimicking flailing during "Thank God," his WWE-style poses for "Topia Twins" — they were the most explosive expressions on the stage. Considering all the fire and fireworks and lasers and smoke and blinding strobe lights and body-rattling bass, that really says something. Scott was so charismatic Wednesday, so in his element, that I rarely bothered to look up at the circular video screen above him.

And when "Meltdown," the biggest hit on "Utopia," showed up 24 songs into the 37-song setlist, Scott and the crowd elevated the electricity to peak levels and rarely let up. The intensity kept growing until the moment came for the most-hyped moment of the tour: several back-to-back performances of "Utopia" track "Fe!n" (or, more accurately, the "Fe!n" intro).

It's a gimmick, sure, one that's been done by other hip-hop acts, but rarely this effectively.

In between each explosive run through of the song — six times in a row — Scott would heighten the tension, build the anticipation. He called on spotlights to light up certain parts of the room — shouting out a 9-year-old and his "pops," a fan who trekked through Wisconsin winter on crutches, guys in opposite corners dressed as a hot dog and a banana, and several shirtless bros (there were dozens of them by this point) — before unleashing a hellfire scream that triggered another run through.

Ahead of the final "Fe!n" performance during the mini-marathon, Scott simply looked out onto the crowd with an eerie smile, motionless, recalling a possessed Jack Nicholson, his demeanor cracking when the familiar "Fe!n" synth waves returned.

And as if six performances of "Fe!n" weren't enough, Scott and his DJ slid in one more performance after "Goosebumps" and before "Telekinesis," the surprised crowd's response more rabid than ever before.

And yet, considering the bargain prices for tickets needed to fill Fiserv Forum, can we still consider Travis Scott a superstar?

If you posed that question to anyone who saw Wednesday’s show, there’s a good chance they'd say he's the superstar.

3 takeaways from Travis Scott's Milwaukee concert

• Beyond calling out individual fans in the crowd during all those "Fe!n" performances, Scott handpicked about a dozen fans to come on stage and ride a giant "stone head" that fired lasers from its eyes, suspended about 15 feet above the stage. One of those fans got to ride on top of the head with Scott himself during "I Know ?"

• Anytime you swing for the fences with your stage production, you run the risk of having a "Spinal Tap" moment. Scott had his Wednesday, when three "apes" who "escaped from the circus," as we were told, appeared on stage as Scott performed "Circus Maximus." Their sudden appearance prompted hundreds of phones to pop up and film what was teed up to be a cool moment — except the people in the cheap-looking ape costumes just paced around slowly like listless zombies before making their exit.

• Rappers Babyface Ray, Ganger and Skilla Baby warmed up the crowd — or more accurately for the former two, the bass-rattling sound system did. (The low end was so immense it obliterated Ganger’s live vocals.) The openers’ dull stage chops, dwarfed on Scott’s massive stage, further emphasized how difficult it really is to electrify a crowd at this scale. But to his credit, Skilla Baby found a solution — he ditched the stage (and his shirt) entirely. When he cruised through the pit and up the aisle by Section 106 — and lead singalongs of Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams” and Fun.’s “We Are Young” — there was an electricity in the crowd that was largely absent for the hour and 38 minutes it took for Scott to take the stage after the show started.

Travis Scott's Fiserv Forum setlist

1. "Hyaena"

2. "Thank God"

3. "Modern Jam"

4. "Aye"

5. "SDP Interlude"

6. "3500"

7. "Backr00ms"

8. "Nightcrawler"

9. "Sirens"

10. "Upper Echelon"

11. "Praise God"

12. "God's Country"

13. "My Eyes"

14. "Butterfly Effect"

15. "Highest In The Room"

16. "Mamacita"

17. "Circus Maximus"

18. "Maria I'm Drunk"

19. "Drugs You Should Try It"

20. "Can't Say"

21. "Mafia"

22. "I Know ?"

23. "90210"

24. "Meltdown"

25. "Topia Twins"

26. "No Bystanders"

27. "Fe!n"

28. "Fe!n"

29. "Fe!n"

30. "Fe!n"

31. "Fe!n"

32. "Fe!n"

33. "Sicko Mode"

34. "Antidote"

35. "Goosebumps"

36. "Fe!n"

37. "Telekinesis"

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Travis Scott in superstar mode at Milwaukee show but ticket sales soft