Rapper Travis Scott creates 'UTOPIA' in Pittsburgh concert

Rapper Travis Scott didn’t let some bad tacos get in the way of his sold-out Pittsburgh show Friday night.

Saying he received two IVs after battling the stomach woes for about a day, Scott had no intentions of following the medical advice he received.

“The doctor told me if I come out here and do what I do every night, I might pass out,” Scott told the crowd. “I told the doctor, ‘(expletive) you if you think I ain’t about to come out here in Pittsburgh.’ I don’t give a (expletive) if I throw up on this stage five times, 10 times, tonight. We goin’ rage! It’s the weekend, rage!”

And rage he did, as a decidedly younger crowd lapped it up as Scott’s Utopia -Circus Maximus came to PPG Paints Arena for his first tour stop here in more than five years.

The Houston rapper goes by many names. Of course, Travis Scott would be the first one, but that’s his stage name (chosen in honor of his uncle Travis and musician Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Mescudi). His birth name is Jacques Bermon Webster II. His nicknames include La Flame and Cactus Jack. There’s also “Dad” to his 5-year-old daughter Stormi and 1-year-old son Airi, who he shares with reality star/cosmetics mogul Kylie Jenner.

He could also be called a bona fide star, with his latest chart-topping album, “UTOPIA,” which came out in July, accompanied by a 75-minute documentary, “CIRCUS MAXIMUS.” Friday’s concert included 11 of the album’s 19 songs, with the show opening with “HYAENA,” as Scott literally launched into the air from under the stage.

As Scott prowled the stage, which was set up as a rocky, post-apocalyptic landscape, pyro flared and fireworks blared throughout his 90-minute set. He covered the whole terrain, whether it was an elevated ramp at one end or a platform that raised him about 20 feet higher in the middle of the stage. A floating head parasail gave six fans a chance to soar above the stage as Scott performed below, and several other suspended heads shot high-intensity lights from their eyes.

Whether it was the propelling drumbeat of “CIRCUS MAXIMUS,” the atmospheric “MY EYES” or the big crowd sing-alongs on the choruses of “I KNOW ?” and “MELTDOWN,” the audience clearly knew and embraced his new album. (“UTOPIA” is Scott’s first album since the Astroworld Festival tragedy, where 10 people died and hundreds were injured on Nov. 5, 2021, in Houston.)

And then there was “FE!N,” which Scott has been known to play several times during a show. With the floor and lower bowl shaking, Scott played it a second and third time Friday. Directing the spotlights to one side of the arena and then the other, he played it two more times. After seeing a group of shirtless men in the suite level, Scott took off his shirt and played it a sixth time. Then came two more times.

And the 8th (and final) version of “FE!N” from @trvisXX in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/eAS02qDWkI

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) December 9, 2023

Scott’s impressive list of collaborators includes A-listers like Drake, Kanye West, Beyonce and SZA, so no show of his would be complete without some of those tracks, like West’s “Praise God” and Lil Uzi Vert’s “Aye.”

He also hit some of his early songs, like “Mamacita,” “Upper Echelon” and “90210,” which had thousands of cell-phone flashlights waving in the air. Songs from his biggest album, 2018’s “Astroworld,” had the floor’s mosh pit pulsing with “NO BYSTANDERS” and “BUTTERFLY EFFECT.”

The show closed with arguably his two biggest hits, “SICKO MODE” and “goosebumps,” followed by “TELEKINESIS,” which played as he left the stage and returned to his dressing room.

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Teezo Touchdown opened with a 20-minute set that closed with several abbreviated versions of his features, including Drake’s “7969 Santa,” Don Toliver’s “Luckily I’m Having” and Tyler, The Creator’s “RUNITUP.” The Texas rapper’s debut album, “How Do You Sleep at Night?,” came out in September, and he altered the lyrics of “Sweet” from “When I’m with you, everything’s sweet” to “When I’m in Pittsburgh, it’s sweet.”

He later made an appearance during Scott’s set, joining him to sing along on “MODERN JAM.”

.@TeezoTouchdown opening the show in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/7SLBlQ5bLD

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) December 9, 2023