Drake delivers the blows – and a moment of healing – to the garden



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Arena concerts often involve a complicated staging, whether through complex tables of amps, sculptures or objects that can be used to fly between the ends of the place. But Drake, the Canadian MC / Mogul who has dominated the pop rankings for a few years now – he was first in Billboard's hot 100 singles chart in 24 weeks of 2018, and his double album "Scorpion" the mark Streams after its release in July – only needed a scene and some scrims.

Granted, this scene was composed of video screens, so that she could do things like mimicking the illuminated floor of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video during a tribute to the megastar pop , turn into a basketball court for an improvised throwing contest. , or reflect Drake scrolling through his Instagram account. But the staging highlighted his absolute command of the audience during a successful performance Saturday night at TD Garden.

Drake worked in every corner of the rectangle, his energy was contagious and did not relax even during his most difficult songs to tear off. He wove tunes where he made cameos – like his collaboration "Rihanna" 2016 "Work" and the banger 2018 with the opening act Migos "Walk It Talk It" – in his titles, as the text "U up? Bling "and the scream of jostling" Started from the bottom ". This 2013 boastful sums up a large part of Drake's appeal; he is loved by a generation for how he balances success with vulnerability, as well as how he seems to savor every drop of life.

Drake promised a "special" show several times during Saturday's set. In most cases, rhetoric like this is a pop-concert concert; Each show is special for the artist and his audience, apart from the coherence between the cities. But Drake delivered when Meek Mill, the Philadelphia MC who was waging a war of words with Drake since 2015, appeared on stage. The crowd exploded; during Mill's fierce version of the opening track of his 2012 album "Dreams and Nightmares" (which Drake had praised on Twitter as "one of the best rap moments of our generation" before the start of their fight), the energy became more intense Apex -rattling when both embraced.

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Drake concluded the show with "God's Plan," the ode to self-determination that spent 11 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year. But at the end of this song, he did not finish: "Tonight was a healing moment," he said. "I hope tonight was an example of how two people can come together and resolve their differences. We need more peace in the world. This contrasts sharply with the seemingly endless parade of bad behavior in 2018 – and gives Drake a new territory to conquer.


Duck

With Migos, Roy Woods

At TD Garden, Saturday (also Friday and Sunday)

Maura Johnston can be reached at [email protected].

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