Red and blue lights bathed the stage when Post Malone came out wearing his notoriously causal black tee and shorts with white vans.
“What is up, guys?” Malone said. “What is going on. Y’all going to get weird tonight?”
America’s Backyard, the intimate outdoor live music venue at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale, hosted the 22-year-old Texas rapper’s sold-out concert Tues., Oct. 17, which was part of his cross-country tour to promote his album “Stoney.”
The crowd erupted in cheers when he finally took the stage at 10 p.m., after opening acts from Miami-based rappers, Smokepurpp and Lil Pump, as well as Huntington Beach rapper, Yung Pinch.
Malone dedicated his first song of the night, “Too Young,” to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting and Tom Petty, who he said “died too young.”
“We are not going to let hate win,” Malone said. “We are going to keep rock and rolling.”
Malone then paid a special tribute to Petty by sitting on a stool at the front of the stage to perform the Gainesville-born rock star’s famous song, “American Girl,” while playing a red electric guitar.
He switched gears to perform his newest hit single “rockstar,” featuring rapper-on-the-rise 21 Savage. The song has been No. 1 on “Billboard Hot 100″ chart for four weeks now and highlights the rockstar lifestyle, with lyrics “Livin’ like a rockstar, smash out a cop car.”
When the upbeat song ended, Malone smashed his red electric guitar to pieces on stage and hands out the neck and body of the guitar to front-row attendees.
Fans went crazy for Malone’s antics, jumping up and down in unison during “I Fall Apart” and “Deja Vu,” featuring Justin Bieber.
This was Malone’s first solo concert in the area, and fans from all over South Florida drove to see him perform.
As a birthday gift, Tristan Palleschi got his sister Lily a meet-and-greet pass to see Post Malone. The two waited over five hours at the venue before they got to see him perform.
“We drove two hours from Naples to come see him,” Lily Palleschi said. “We got here at 5 p.m. so we could meet him before he went on stage.”
Before his last song, Malone performed the song that catapulted him into the music industry, “White Iverson.” The song has an ethereal and mellow beat, which is unusual in the rap genre.
He ended the concert “Congratulations,” the story of his rise to fame against the odds.
“This is to anyone that ever tells you you can’t do something,” Malone said.