For the third to last show of the Happy Camper Tour, rapper Hoodie Allen returned to Philadelphia, his second home, on March 20th to perform to a sold out crowd at the Electric Factory.
As an undergraduate at Wharton, Allen started his rap career by collaborating with others at Penn and releasing a few mixtapes under his real name, Steve Markowitz, which gained him attention from Penn students as well as MTVU. While working with a new producer, he changed his stage name to Hoodie Allen and continued to gain attention through the release of new mixtapes and opening for other artists.
His second and most recent LP, Happy Camper, reached number one on the iTunes overall albums chart this January, despite the fact that Allen released the album for free to his fans through his website. During the show, Allen made sure to constantly thank his fans telling them that because he has no label, their word of mouth is what gets his music heard around the world. Even before the show, Allen himself worked the merch table, helping fans pick what to buy and thanking them for their support.
Many of his supporters show a dedication that many artists would feel lucky to have behind them. A group of friends who were at the barricade drive 10 hours and then camped outside the venue to be first in line for the show. Many other fans at the barricade said they had camped for 24 hours just to be close to the stage and get a wristband to meet Allen after the show. To them, the wait was entirely worth it.
After three fantastic openers – singer/rapper Bryce Vine, singer gnash, and rapper KYLE – the crowd was extremely energetic and more than ready for Allen. Allen’s set was dynamic; he jumped from one upbeat song to the next, while the crowd screamed along with every word. He constantly catered to the audience, reading their signs to him (“Hoodie, we want your woodie…woah that’s a penis on there!”) and handing the mic to fans to give them a chance to rap his lyrics. Allen also played one of his older songs, “James Franco,” just because a few fans held up a light-up James Franco Fatheadand asked him to perform it.
Although Happy Camper is only two months old, most of the crowd rapped along perfectly to every song he performed from the album. The crowd was by far the loudest, though, during Allen’s most popular songs – “No Faith in Brooklyn” and “No Interruption” off of his first EP All American, and “All About It” off of his first LP People Keep Talking.
One of the most creative parts of the concert came during Allen’s song “Cake Boy,” when he ran to the back of the crowd and jumped on a platform to give fans in the back an opportunity to get close to him. In the middle of the song, he was handed a cake and threw it into the crowd, covering fans in icing. Another tradition on this tour has been for Allen to crowdsurf in a life raft, and he kept that tradition alive, making it all the way to the back of the crowd before being pushed back to the stage in time to launch into another song.
As balloons floated around the crowd and confetti fell from the top of the venue, the show felt like a party, celebrating not only Allen, but his fans as well. Allen put on an unforgettable show, and by the end of the night, he made sure every single person in the audience was a happy camper.
Setlist:
Intro to Anxiety
Remind Me Of
No Faith In Brooklyn/Love Yourself
High Again, Movie
Are U Having Any Fun
James Franco
You Are Not A Robot
Too Invested
Small Town
Two Lips/Casanova/Stressed Out
Cake Boy
Act My Age
Let It All Work Out
Surprise Party
Champagne and Pools (feat. KYLE)
All About It
So Close to Happiness
King To Me
No Interruption
