Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending Don Toliver’s Psycho Tour at Eagle Bank Arena in Fairfax, VA. After seeing all the hype surrounding Toliver’s tour on TikTok, with fans packed in arenas, jaw dropping visuals, and crowds singing together in unison- it was hard to say no. So just 3 hours before the concert, I impulsively bought 2 tickets for $114 each, hoping the last minute splurge would be worth it. I couldn’t help but wonder: would Toliver live up to the online hype, or even exceed it?
Arriving at Eagle Bank wasn’t much of an adventure in itself. We arrived around 7:30, a half an hour before the openers, so finding a parking spot was very easy. The parking was free, and it only took 2 minutes to walk from my friend’s car to the entrance. Before you could even enter the building, you had to get your ticket scanned. When I first walked in, it was extremely crowded, due to the merch line being right at the front entrance. There wasn’t much to do within the arena itself, so my friend and I waited in the merch line. The selection of merch was decent, and the prices weren’t bad; however, the most popular items were sold out in my size. After impatiently waiting for nearly 50 minutes, I settled for a T-shirt that cost $47. Soon after, we bought overpriced waters, took a trip to the bathroom, and headed towards our seats.
Our seats were located in section 118, to the left side, and were only a few rows away from the stage, which allowed us to have a great close-up view of the concert at all times. For this show, there were 3 openers in this order; Molly Santana, Monaleo, and Ski Mask the Slump God. Due to waiting in the merch line for quite some time, we missed Molly Santana, and most of Monaleo. I don’t really know any of Monaleo’s songs, but she did play the classic Party in the USA. After that, her performance was over, and we waited for the last opener, who we were by far the most excited for; Ski Mask the Slump God. As the final opener, Ski brought a whole new level of energy to the arena. He opened with Shibuya, a song from his new album 11th Dimension. As a South Florida native, Ski had a close relationship with the late rapper XXXTentacion, who was shot and killed in 2018. As a tribute, he played some of X’s most popular songs, which included “Jocelyn Flores,” and “Look At Me!” Along with the X tribute, Ski also played Juice WRLD’s songs “Lean Wit Me” and “Legends” as a tribute to the rapper who overdosed in 2019. Ski also played some of his own most popular songs, “Nuketown,” “Faucet Failure,” “Take a Step Back,” and a few others I can’t recall. Overall, Ski did an amazing job with keeping the crowd engaged, which can be a hard task for a concert opener. His performance felt like a throwback to the 2017-2020 era of music.
At 9:45, the lights dimmed, and the curtain dropped, signaling the start of Don Toliver’s highly anticipated performance. The stage erupted with flames, and the electrifying sound of guitars traveled through the arena, instantly captivating the crowd. Toliver stepped out of a huge metal sphere in the middle of the stage. He opened the show with “KRYPTONITE,” the first song on his most recent album, HARDSTONE PSYCHO. The track fuses together rock and R&B styles, and helped to set the dark leather-jacketed biker theme for the rest of the concert. This was followed up with a seamless electric guitar transition into the second song on the album “TORE UP” which he later closed the show with, playing it around 6 times. The effects during these opening moments were perfectly timed, with bursts of flames, clouds of smoke, and lights changing colors to match the mood of the songs. The combination of perfectly timed visuals, Toliver’s stage presence, and the crowd’s electrifying energy created a larger-than-life atmosphere. Toliver continued with the third song on the album “BROTHER STONE (FEAT. KODAK BLACK).” While this song was one of my favorites on the album, I was disappointed by Toliver’s lack of energy on the stage, although after tirelessly jumping around for nearly 10 minutes, I guess he deserved a break. Not for long though, as the energy was soon brought back with another strong song on the album “4X4,” another intense track with an insane beat drop.
Although Toliver’s concert was primarily themed around his HARDSTONE PSYCHO album, he also included some of his songs from his other albums and features. For the next part of the concert, he gave us a throwback with one of his most popular songs, “Cardigan” from his 2020 breakthrough album Heaven or Hell. He continued to bring us back even further to 2019, performing songs “HAD ENOUGH,” “GANG GANG,” and “WHAT TO DO?” from the Cactus Jack Records’ compilation album JACKBOYS. Next, were taken on a field trip (literally) back to 2024 with the track “FIELD TRIP (feat. Kodak Black)” that features Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, Playboi Carti, and Don Toliver himself. From there he transitioned into a viral fan favorite from his Love Sick album, “NO POLE.” Due to the song’s popularity, Toliver ran it back and played it twice, the second time being more hype.
One of my favorite things about the concert was the setlist- it felt like a perfectly curated journey through Toliver’s evolution as an artist. It was full of throwbacks, and popular hits, fast paced songs and more chill songs (and yes, he did play “FIEN”). The order he played them in kept the crowd engaged, wondering what he would play next. The highlight of the concert was when Toliver played “BANDIT,” the most popular and powerful track on his new album. For this song Toliver brought two motorcyclists on the stage, to perform a jaw-dropping circus stunt inside of The Globe of Death in the center of the stage. As the concert came to an end, it was clear that Toliver didn’t just live up to the online hype- he blew it out of the water.
