Kid Cudi takes Oakland to the moon

Kid Cudi’s To The Moon World Tour landed in Oakland at the Oakland Arena on Sunday August 21^st, with special guests Denzel Curry and Strick. Unfortunately for fans, two days prior to the show Don Toliver — who was originally set to open — pulled out of the tour, with an announcement on Twitter stating “due to production/logistical issues” he would no longer be performing. Bummer.

First to start the show, at 7pm on the dot, was North Carolina rapper Strick.

His quick 20-minute set flew by and it was onto Denzel Curry, whose set opened with a cool cowboy montage scene, which gave off Quentin Tarantino Django Unchained vibes. Fans were super pumped for the Miami rapper and went crazy jumping along with hands in the air to songs like “Walkin”, “SUMO | ZUMO” and “CLOUT COBAIN”.  

Due to Don Toliver being out, I’d say there was about an hour before Kid Cudi came on later after 9pm. Kid Cudi’s stage production featured amazing lights and lasers throughout the show, and the stage also had some rocks and exotic-looking plants, making it seem like you were on another planet. Cudi opened with “Down & Out”, an older release which I remember being on mixtapes back when the first Man On The Moon album was released, but is now featured on the latest album A Kid Named Cudi. Next was “Tequila Shots” from the 2020 album Man On The Moon III: The Chosen. During this song, the lights were all red, including red lasers and pyrotechnics exploding at two separate times. “She Knows This” was next followed by “Dive”. Kid Cudi surprised the audience next by bringing out Chip Tha Ripper for two classic songs including, “Just What I Am” and “T.G.I.F”. Fan-favorite “GHOST!” was played next and had fans singing along loudly throughout the arena; the only other song where the audience was this loud was a few songs later during “Mr. Rager”.

Other numbers on the setlist included “Solo Dolo Part 3”, “By Design” and “The Void”. Closing out the set was a mashup of “Memories” and “Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix).  The show wasn’t over, though, because for an encore Kid Cudi performed “The Prayer” and “love”.

All in all, I’m not going to lie, I am a little bummed Kid Cudi’s set consisted mostly of songs from the newer Man On The Moon III: The Chosen album versus the classic older stuff like “Day ‘N’ Nite (nightmare)” — a banger I’ll always have in my heart. I guess I’ll just have to wait till the 2029 tour when the album turns 20.

Photography by Katey Schoenberger

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