It felt like the New York-est of New York shows when SZA said, while hovering above the massive crowd at Barclays Center, “We’re gonna sing this next one. It’s about my ex-fiance who still blocked me on everything and will not talk to me. He’s from Bedford-Stuyvesant, and his father is here. So, we’re gonna sing it for him.”
The R&B singer, riding high off the commercial and critical success of SOS, is on a second leg of her North American tour in support of the project.
The opening act for the night was Queens-born and Houston-raised singer and musician d4vd, the 18-year-old who has gained much traction over the past year for the viral hits “Romantic Homicide” and “Here With Me.” The enthusiastic audience screamed for his set from the jump, and he surely brought some who may not have even known they were familiar with his music with the tracks that have become mainstays on social media. Stans and new fans alike were further brought in for a sweet moment when he brought his younger sister out to perform “Here With Me.”
Having had to cancel her Toronto show when she was under the weather, SZA braved the crowd at Brooklyn night one and didn’t miss a beat at all, showing nearly no impacts on her vocals or energy. After starting the show by replicating the album’s artwork and diving into the “water,” the singer went through a series of hits from both SOS and CTRL, with noteworthy standouts being the CTRL classics “Love Galore” and “Broken Clocks.”
This portion of the concert was broken up by a somewhat unexpected– but at the same time makes total sense– a cover of Erykah Badu’s “Bag Lady.” The crowd was heavily engaged for a trio of fan-favorite songs, including the long-gestating “Shirt,” the boastful “Smoking on My Ex Pack,” and Black Panther anthem “All the Stars.”
Known for being attention-averse, it would be hard to believe that by the way the singer sashayed across and commanded the stage for the night, even with the show being a bit more choreography-heavy than most would think. A standout for the night was “Low,” SOS’s trap-inflicted track that is arguably the most high-energy of her discography, and you could tell it was by the way the thousands who attended reacted. The night pressed on with another shot of energy with the Doja Cat collaboration “Kiss Me More,” followed by the bulk of SOS‘s singles: “Snooze,” “Kill Bill” and “I Hate U.”
The concert concluded with one of her first bonafide hits, “The Weekend,” and an apt ending to the evening with “Good Days.” As she closed the show, SZA came back out on the stage to thank fans and say that she couldn’t do her typical event of bringing people backstage, but still pointed people out to make sure they would be taken care of.
Generous queen. The SOS tour will continue with its second leg with a handful more of shows through the rest of the month.
SZA SOS Tour Setlist
- ‘PSA’
- ‘Seek & Destroy’
- ‘Notice Me’
- ‘Conceited’
- ‘Love Galore’
- ‘Broken Clocks’
- ‘Forgiveless’
- ‘Used’
- ‘Bag Lady’
- ‘Blind’
- ‘Shirt’
- ‘Too Late’
- ‘Smoking on My Ex Pack’
- ‘All the Stars’
- ‘Prom’
- ‘Garden (Say It Like Dat)’
- ‘F2F’
- ‘Drew Barrymore’
- ‘Doves in the Wind’
- ‘Low’
- ‘Open Arms’
- ‘Supermodel’
- ‘Special’
- ‘Nobody Gets Me’
- ‘Gone Girl’
- ‘SOS’
- ‘Kiss Me More’
- ‘Love Language’
- ‘Snooze’
- ‘Kill Bill’
- ‘I Hate U’
- ‘The Weekend’
- ‘Good Day