Ab-Soul and members of Pro Era are on tour with fellow musicians this fall for the Smokers Club Tour. These pictures are from the Saturday Nov. 16, 2013 show in Houston, TX. Although I wish more Pro Era members were present, Joey, Kirk, and CJ Fly put on a great show followed by Ab-Soul.
My fiance and I stayed in a hotel in downtown Houston and ended up walking about a mile to the Warehouse to the show. Having never visited Houston, it was a sight to see. The Business District was filled with skyscrapers and surprisingly clean streets.
The driving was pretty awful, for someone not used to heavy traffic in an unfamiliar area. The doors to the venue were supposed to open around 8:30, which is when we ended up leaving the hotel. Thank to Google Maps, a 20 minute walk ended up being around 35 minutes. We adventured haphazardly around downtown Houston before stumbling across the venue.
The line was wrapped around the building when we got there, with the Pro Era bus on the side. We joined the line as I looked at my surroundings. I saw AK, of the Underachievers, standing outside of the bus chatting with some other fellows I didn’t recognize. AK and Powers Pleasant, a DJ in Pro Era, walked in front of us multiple times while we were in the venue. That was pretty cool.
As soon as we walk in, there is a table full of unique merch. Kwon, Joey’s cousin and member of Pro Era, was running the merch table with some other guys. I ended up buying a new crew neck sweater that features Joey Bada$$, Capital Steez, CJ Fly, and Kirk Knight. I’m not sure how many have been printed, but they said this was a new piece of merch dedicated to Steez and that if you got one of these, you were lucky. I totally jumped on that and spent the heavy cash of $60.
We walked around the venue which consisted of a huge open floor which two bars on both sides. We caught a spot on the stairs leading up to the bar on the left, which was about half way back and in my opinion, a perfect spot. As the name of the tour indicates, there was a heavy aroma of trees in the air and sparks were everywhere.
Cashius Green was on first and in the middle of playing when we walked in. I have never listened to him before, but he sounded nice. The Underachievers, AK and Issa Gold, came out next which I was super pumped for. They played three songs, then abruptly walked off stage. Everyone, including their DJ, responded like “uh, what?” The crowd chanted “U. A.” repeatedly but no one came back out. After their performance, Issa tweeted “Houston was the weakest crowd I’ve ever experienced.” Apparently it wasn’t hype enough for UA to even play Herb Shuttles. I personally think they let their egos get a little high because the crowd was definitely into them. I wish artists would understand the crowd doesn’t have to be moshing to mean they enjoy it. We drove six hours to see them and they played three songs!
Anyways, Statik Selektah came out next and DJed for a while. I’m a big fan, and he did a great job. Chevy Woods came out next, and honestly, I thought it was too long of a set. I was mainly there to see Pro Era and Ab-Soul, so maybe that’s why I’m biased, but he went on for way too long. I felt the whole crowd thought that.
Finally, Statik came back out and then Joey Bada$$ appeared. It seemed almost surreal, my favorite rapper was on the stage. It’s hard to remember what order songs were played in, but he played a ton of classics. Sweet Dreams, Unorthodox, 95 till Infinity, Waves, Funky Hos, Hardknock, Survival Tactics, Bun N Cheese, and Amesthsyt Rockstar were all played, I’m (pretty) sure. Kirk Knight came out after a couple of songs and performed some of these with Joey. It was Kirk’s birthday, so the crowd sang to him and he was in a great mood.
CJ Fly also made an appearance and came out to perform as well. After some 1999 and PEEP songs, CJ played some off of this new mixtape, The Way Eye See It. He played Loco Motives, Eyetalian Frenchip, and I’m pretty sure one more but I can’t remember which one. This was probably the best show I’ve ever seen.
Ab-Soul came out next, and at this point, it was around 12:30 a.m. There was no bathroom in the venue, and after four hours of standing after meandering around downtown, I needed a bathroom! Soul came out and performed Pineal Gland, SOPA, Bohemian Grove, and many others. After about six songs, we unfortunately left. I wanted to see what else Ab-Soul would perform, but as I said, I needed a bathroom and it was late. We had already seen Soul before, but it was unfortunate we had to leave early.
Overall, it was the best show I’ve experienced. Pro Era are my favorite rappers in the game right now, and Ab-Soul is definitely on my favorites list. Unfortunately, on the flyer it listed more PE members names, such as A La Sole, Dessy Hinds, Nyck Caution, and 47 which I can assume to be Dirty Sanchez and Rokamouth, but none of these members were present. It was great seeing the ones that were, but I hope to see all of them one day. It was a great show and here’s some photos of it below.
The Underachievers
Joey Bada$$
Pro Era
Ab-Soul
Ab-Soul
welcome to the progressive era 