Two North American Rappers. Two UK Concerts. My Experience.

On the 24th and 25th July Lil Tecca and Drake both performed in Manchester while touring away from America. Tecca performed in front of thirty five hundred people at the O2 Victoria Warehouse while Drake performed in front of seventeen thousand at the Co-op Live. Here is my experience with a graduation sandwiched in the middle.

The doors for Lil Tecca opened at 7pm and in typical style I was still at the hotel I was residing at. Fortunately, it was only about a fifteen minute drive so I still arrived in reasonable time. This was the first concert I attended without my parents and first concert I actually wanted to attend so excitement was high as I walked down the closed roads towards the arena. Tecca was also the first concert I went to solo so I spent the fifteen minutes queuing trying to look as normal as possible and shake off the embarrassment. Luckily, the person behind me was also on their own so it was a little less sad.

After a quick search and scanning my ticket I was in, and headed straight for the toilet. At this point the embarrassment peaked as I picked the cubicle with a dodgy lock and someone tried to enter. The pants were up. Just for clarity. After washing my hands and passing someone who was 'spaced out' shall we say, I decided to head to the bar to forget about the situation that had just occurred. The drinks selection was somewhat disappointing. No Kopparberg, no Old Mount Cider and certainly no strawberry daiquiri. After these revelations I settled on a can of four I spotted from a distance. The can looked nice. I had no idea of the contents. This was drunk while realising it was going to be a very sweaty evening as the mosh pits emerged before the first warmup act even came out.

Ffawty was the first warmup act who I missed the entrance to. When I came back though the crowd was getting into with a tribute to XXXTENTACION. After this, Ffawty rolled into his own songs which I was unfamiliar with but were still enjoyable. He reminded me of Lil Uzi Vert which certainly isn't a bad thing. Once he concluded, Kairo Keyz came out, who kept the party running. Another act I didn't think I recognised until he played his hit song 'Gang'. Kairo Keyz had a strong stage presence and has got me looking out for his next concert.

Now onto the main act. It felt like Tecca came out late and the wait was tense but it was well worth it. The 'Dopamine' opening into 'On Your Own' had the whole crowd bouncing and there was nowhere to hide from the dopamine release. Hearing the 2025 hit 'Dark Thoughts' was a real highlight and a real disappointment when I realised you could hear me singing on the video I took of the performance. The same applies for 'Never Left' which he went straight into after 'Dark Thoughts'. This may have been the best two song run of the setlist. 'Did It Again' provided a slight opportunity to take a break from the mosh pits that were all across the floor. I would recommend not taking a jacket to a Lil Tecca concert. As a Kid Laroi fan, hearing 'Diva' was pretty cool and drawn in one of the bigger mosh pits of the night. Following this, we had one of the songs I was arguably most excited to hear. 'I Can't Let Go'. I had to make sure I belted this one out. And belt it out I did. 'Boys Don't Cry' closely followed, which to my surprise was echoed word for word. This felt like a particularly touching moment as someone who has been listening to Lil Tecca since before he came back into the mainstream media. I felt like a proud dad and nearly cried while jumping up and down. Embarrassing. I know. The verses in between the chorus of 'Owa Owa' provided an opportunity to regain some breath and also take the best video of the night. Brilliant song by the way. Despite being a personal favourite, 'HVN On Earth' was a bit more chilled after quite an intense couple of songs. 'Repeat It' then picked the energy back up and served as another embarrassing moment as I blasted the wrong lines too early. Then it was the one that made him a star. 'Ransom'. The reason my brother knows Lil Tecca is due to the 2020 Fortnite montages with 'Ransom' playing so obviously I sent him a video of this. Tecca then finished after around an hour with two very hype renditions of '500lbs'.

And with that I headed for the bar while 'Not Like Us' played. I must say the concert lost marks for this with Drake being in town the next night. A free cup of water and I trudged over to the merch store as it only felt right to cop something. A hoodie was good enough to commemorate. The walk back to the main road and finding somewhere to get picked up was horrible, with wet cargo pants and a shirt clinging to the skin from sweat. This did not stop me from buying a poster though. I managed to run into the road, hop in the car and that was the end of night one.

The first night I stayed in a hotel with my parents and the second night I stayed in an Airbnb so Drake day meant packing my stuff and putting it in the car. My dad's graduation was good although I must say the concerts were better. I went straight from the graduation to the Co-op Live as I couldn't access my Airbnb until 3pm. This meant I had an hour to kill. During this hour I had three people ask me if I work there as I was still in my graduation outfit. After the third incident I decided it was time to go to the Airbnb. It was at some point along this journey I realised I had sent my trainers back to Liverpool with my parents. The result of this was twenty pounds on Ubers, one hundred and eighty on trainers and then seventy five on a Drake top asI had under packed in that department. I feel rocking up to Drake in a hoodie, jeans and loathers wasn't the move.

Anyway, at 2pm there was a couple of people waiting outside. When I returned at 6pm there were plenty of people waiting. With this I decided to join the queue which was already three rows long despite there being another hour until the doors opened. Let's just say that was a long hour waiting on your own. On the bright side, it only took ten minutes to get in once the doors opened. And the toilets were a lot more pleasant shall we say. Even better however, was the fact they were selling a fruit cider. You would expect a better drinks selection and toilets for triple the price in a brand new arena though I guess. It was my first time in the Co-op and I must say that it is fantastic. The seat I was sat in was brilliant as well. Central view about halfway back and not too far away from the end of the row. Due to the stage set up it meant I got to see my two favourite Drake songs right underneath my nose. Oh and shout out to Kalvin and Alex from St Helens who were in close proximity to me. And the two girls to my right and the one to my left.

To the girl who sat in seat 499, row 10, section 318, I wish I got your number.

Now if Lil Tecca was questionably late, Drake certainly was. It had just gone twenty to ten before Drake eventually came out to 'Gimme a Hug' but boy was it worth it. He entered from the section below me so that made for some good Instagram footage. Even if you can hear me shout 'This is the moment' and the lovely girl next to me respond with 'He looks off his barnet'.

The next hightlight for me would have been hearing 'What Did I Miss?' which in my humble opinion has the greatest beat switch of all time. Seeing him pull the move from the music video and then transition into 'Headlines', wow. I never really listened to 'Headlines' until I saw it live but I've had it on repeat since I got back from the concert. It was then fun to spectate the mosh pits going crazy to 'Sicko Mode' from a distance. After Tecca, I'm glad I was seated and not standing. A quick rendition of 'One Dance' was sweet. Even sweeter though, was 'Die Trying'. Hearing Drake's vocals on this track live was beautiful. The tears were ready to roll down my face by the end of it. Pathetic. 'Girls Want Girls' was chilled and had me thinking whether I should see Lil Baby at the same arena in September or not. And then we had another big one. 'Rich Baby Daddy'. The memories dancing to this song outside Baa Baa in Liverpool last year. Brilliant to hear it live. I might have been a bit too passionate when singing 'Heard there's money on my head, what is that to me' though. Anything to hear it live again. Then we had a Drake monologue and a chance to say 'F*ck all our exes'. There were definitely more vocal people than me at that point. Back to back Drake and 21 Savage was cool even if fights broke out in the standing area. I jokingly said to the girl on my left earlier in the show he might bring out Central Cee if we are lucky. I didn't think he actually would. Even better that he didn't at night two from the sounds of it. We got more bang for our buck you could say. Everyone vibed out to 'Nokia' once Cench had left of course. And then we had the emotional end. The sad songs to show love and another Drake monologue. What a night.

I said goodbye to my friends and started the mission of getting home. My Uber driver on the journey their advised walking ten minutes away from the venue before ordering an Uber so I started walking. Despite the lack of connection at times, the signposted walking route into Manchester made it easy not to get lost. The lack of connection did make it significantly harder to get an uber though and I walked for twenty minutes before I got one. In the end I got picked up a mile away from the Airbnb. Could've just finished the walk at that point. The time was pushing towards one in the morning by the time I got back so hardly a terrible night. One hundred and fifty pounds as a student is a lot of money but Drizzy was worth it.

What I hadn't anticipated was everyone getting the train into Liverpool the following morning meaning all the trains were full. Back to Uber it was. I thought I'd get one to Lime Street and get a train from there to save money. I'd be mistaken though. It was cheaper to get an Uber straight home so that was that. Twenty nine pounds later and I was back home before noon.

As I finish writing this up, I fear life may never get as good as those two nights last week. Well, at least until they come back to the UK.

Farewell.