TOOSII LIVE | RITZ MUSIC VENUE

We had the chance to cover Toosii during his sold-out show at the Ritz Music Venue in Raleigh.  This was a show we were told would be highly energized, wild show and that Toosii himself puts on an incredible performance.  As the night went on, sadly, our experience was anything else but what we were told to expect. 

To start off, this should have been a night of fun, excitement and a celebration of Toosii’s awesome achievement of selling out the Ritz Music Venue, but sadly it was not.  Before Toosii even took the stage there was chaos.  Three fights broke out, people were shoving each other all over the venue trying to get as close to the barricade as possible, I personally saw several women get into verbal altercations about minor issues (you touched me, you looked at me funny, that kind of thing), venue staff was being berated and it was an overall just a horrible experience.  Now I have seen issues like this at metal and rock shows as well (example: Fever 333) so this is nothing unique but I have never seen it this bad. 

For instance, when the first fight broke out, no one tried to stop it, everyone put their phones up high in the air and started recording it.  It was like watching a bunch of preteens hoping to go viral by posting a fight video on their socials.  It was pathetic.  When the second fight broke out, the same thing happened and as well with the third fight.  The venue staff was trying to get things under control as best they could and were able to remove some people from the venue but for me the show was already a sad affair. 

 As the show started I and some other photographers were ushered into the pit.  As the lights went dim, Toosii slowly walked out and stood at the center of the stage looking at all of the fans screaming at the top of their lungs.  It was so loud that my earplugs were not doing me any favors. There were some small air canons that shot smoke into the air as well as a really cool light show.   Now, I don’t know if it was a bad night for Toosii but he looked extremely bored being there and barely moved around the stage.  He would slowly walk around the stage and seemed to be “going through the motions” and not really caring.  I saw no energy, no excitement, no wild performance or anything even close to what I was told to expect.  During his performance he briefly left the stage and came back holding a baby.  After that I was done. 

Now, this could have been a really rough night for Toosii, which does happen to artists who are on the road a lot, but his performance was beyond boring.  He is a talented young artist and hope he continues to grow, he has a dedicated fan base and I am sure he will continue to make great music.   I do though hope everyone who saw him on this tour experienced a more energic and exciting performance, but for me, it was one of the worst shows of the year.