Singer. Actor. First responder? Early Thursday morning in London, Drake redefined the concept of triple threat.
With a level of slapstick stagecraft not seen since Madonna’s Capegate at the Brit Awards (also at London’s O2 arena), Travis Scott’s compulsively re-watchable fall through Drake’s stage last night is the first great joy of 2017.
In the pantheon of great falls, this set a new standard. The rap-regulation all-white wardrobe, the strobe lighting, the billowing stage fog, the plaintive autotuned warble as he freewheels through the air and disappears into the stage. Chaplin couldn’t have done it better.
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For every disaster and facepalm in the coming year, expect to see this as the go-to GIF.
After the fall, came the rise... a heroically silhouetted Drake, fished the unfortunate rapper out of the hole, like a hip-hop Aladdin pulling Princess Jasmine onto the magic carpet.
Scott is a special guest on Drake’s Boy Meets World tour. The world in question is supposed to look like this, but after being fallen on and broken by the 24-year-old Texan, the globe failed to make an appearance. It seems Drake couldn’t show him the world after all.
The 20,000-capacity gig, at London’s O2, was the third night of the tour. And in addition to bearing witness to an historic moment of music legend, Drake offered the crowd a refund. Sort of.
“I’m doing this shit for free tonight. I don’t give a fuck,” he told the crowd. “Because, you know what? It’s real love in here tonight… I don’t give a fuck about none of these people fucking up. I’m giving all their shit back.”
There’s still some confusion as to whether a refund for the more than £110-a-head tickets would be forthcoming, but Drake did tell the crowd “London, England, I love you, I hope you enjoyed your free show.”
After adding rescuer to his résumé, what next for the cult of Drake? The man who appears to consider a mantelpiece of Grammys as a basic requirement for dating—Rihanna, Madonna, J.Lo?
Well, one imagines that his special guests may apply an additional injury clause to their contracts in future.
But if Scott was hurt, he didn’t tell—well, not to Twitter at least.
