Opening the show was local emcee Sauce McKinley, who, alongside his guitarist and DJ, threw down more than a respectable set. Working efficiently with the atrocious B-Joe’s PA set up, Sauce got the crowd live and, as is the case for most Buffalo hip hop shows, brought in a local crowd that dissipated before the national act came on. Sauce had an equal size or bigger crowd than his national counterparts, who didn’t arrive at the venue until after his set. He and his accompanists were practiced and tight, and are definitely starting to make an impact in the realm of Buffalo hip hop.
After Sauce, the promoter came up to me questioning if I had spoken with the tour manager (as I been in contact with him before the show), and ironically, he promptly called me to let me know they were en route. They arrived, set up, and the Fortune Family came on, and threw down a decent, but incredibly short set. After having a plethora of problems with monitor levels during sound check, they performed less than half as long as their local counterparts. The Philly natives performed well, and their DJ nearly over shadowed them; providing incredible beats for the short set. It is still unknown if they played a short set because of the PA problems, or because of the lukewarm audience.
When Hoodie Allen came on, the sound problems continued. Hoodie had constant problems with monitor levels, and was attempting to adjust throughout his abbreviated set. Allen was definitely disappointed with not only the venue, but the turnout. Their shows both before and after the Buffalo show (in Pittsburgh and Rochester, respectively) had monstrous turnouts and it almost seemed as though the acts thought their online reputations would precede them; but of course, as always, Buffalo ends up an anomaly. Buffalo is still a handbill driven PR market, especially a venue like Broadway Joe’s, and comparably large hip hop group People Under the Stairs, filled the same venue by posterizing the city (although they too had quite a number of sound issues).
Allen cycled through some of his mixtape material, and played his biggest hits, but on this night, freestyle was not the name of the game. He busted out a brief freestyle, however, it was his only one of the night. Both his and the Fortune Family’s sets were incredibly polished, and the inherent “poppy”-ness of their music may have gone over well had college been in session. But with most of Buffalo’s youth home for the summer, or enticed by one of the umpteen free concerts happening in the city, there was a humble audience reaction. After the show, the bands quietly packed up, and quickly headed toward Rochester, where they had 140 tickets presold. On this night the inexperience of Hoodie’s team shone through, and a shortened set from the headliner was the result.
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