Lil Peep is an unusual artist, seemingly a relic from an era where rap-rock crossovers and angsty emo was all the rage. Peep doesn’t completely fit this description – his trap influences are decidedly modern – however his lyrics about socially awkward experiences at high school are obviously backwards looking. It’s fair to say that I am not the biggest fan of Lil Peep but with my diehard friends desperate to go, I decided to join them.
Looking like they’d stumbled out a wormhole from the mid-00s, the energy from the crowd contributed a lot to the experience. Every song was met with cheers, sung along to, and ended with chants for another hit tune.
As someone not too acquainted with Peep’s songs and additionally suffering a personal memory block that can’t recall words within a musical context, I felt like the only person in the crowd not singing along to every word. Despite this, the crowd was the most positive element of the gig.
Of the performance, I’d say that the songs individually were not bad, each sounding like a emotional hit in their own right. However, in a larger context, these songs all meshed into one, too similar in tone and sound to stick out from each other. Peep himself was another issue – unsurprisingly sloshed, he downed a whole bottle of Hennessey during the show. Each song was preceded by a long interlude of Peep chatting to the crowd.
At times this was endearing, with Peep offering consoling words about making “some noise for yourself as individuals” and engaging in banter with the crowd about song choices. However, other moments were awkwardly silent. Peep just stared at his laptop screen for what felt like minutes figuring out what to do next.
It was an amateur gig. I enjoyed it, but not without a sense of guilt for having done so.
