Kid Cudi Goes All in at Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ Tour Stop in New York

When a fan goes to a hip-hop concert, they’re usually prepared for a contact high as they rap along to some of their favorite songs with strangers. Now add in raging young adults, swaying mobs and Kid Cudi. The rapper had a show in New York City's Central Park last night (Oct. 6). Let’s talk about it.

So a couple hundred Cudder fans were lined up at the Central Park SummerStage entrance well before 2 p.m. Mind you, the Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ Tour started around 8:15 p.m.—though originally meant to start at 7:30 p.m.—but in order to get a good spot, getting there five to six hours early was ideal, especially for a true rager. In all honesty, it only felt like an hour or so with everyone humming along to Cudi’s songs, ordering pizza and chopping it up among their group of friends. Some braved the event solo, which was probably in their best interest. Keeping up with a crowd at a concert is no easy feat.

Like clockwork, the gates opened to the Central Park SummerStage at 6:30 p.m., as scheduled. Another hour was spent standing in place, nodding to the DJ’s playlist, and blunts were in rotation, despite the park’s strict no smoking rule. Concert-goers began their attempt to manifest Travis Scott, Andre 3000 and Kanye West onto the stage before the night’s end. A fail, but hilarious all the same as they came up with album titles for the bunch (someone needs to make Watch the Moon with Kanye and Cudi happen ASAP, by the way, if it hasn't already).

By 8 p.m. fans of the Man on the Moon grew anxious. Some planned to leave, but it wasn’t the smoothest option seeing that everyone was closed in on all sides. Then, a mist emerged around the forestry on stage. Fluorescent shades of blue, pink and purple appeared as the announcer brought out the man of the hour. In an instant, Kid Cudi graced the stage, BAPE'd down, ready to rage and kick some demon ass.

“Revofev” blasted from the speakers as Cudi bounced from one side of the stage to the next. It was quite interesting to see Cudder performing with the biggest grin one could muster as fan after fan was lifted out of the crowd due to heat exhaustion. If he went to the left of the stage, so did they. If he went to the center, the ones in front were pushed against a heavy metal bar. Fans threw bows as Cudi jammed out to “Frequency,” and once King Chip arrived to rap his verse on “Just What I Am,” off Indicud, they rushed the stage to give him daps and pounds. An amazing sight, really.

Kid Cudi continued to perform tracks from Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’ for the remainder of the night, providing solo renditions of “Rose Golden,” “Baptized in Fire” and “By Design” sans Willow Smith, Travis Scott and 3 Stacks, respectively. Fans chanted the “weeeee-oooohhhh” intro of “Wounds” while Cudi went on to finish the job, delighted to see him in such a better place in life. Seeing that New York City is his “second home," it's clear he shared the same sentiment.

After giving fans an amped-up version of "Day 'N' Nite" and some of his other classics, the snow from his stage setup began to fall and everyone in attendance realized it was time to exit left soon. “When I wrote ‘Day ‘N’ Nite’ I was 23. I’m 33 now,” he added to the eruption of applause. Cudi then went on to say how much he appreciates the love from his fans before jetting off the stage.

His departure meant the New York City leg of the Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin' Tour had come to an end, but it'll remain in the memory of everyone in the crowd forever. Until next time, Mr. Rager.

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