The last two releases from the Long Beach nativte Vince Staples have been two of the most stunning examples of artistic progression we have seen in years. 2021’s self-titled LP and this year’s masterpiece Ramona Park Broke My Heart are held at high acclaim and considered some of the best releases of their respective years. These two albums, coming out only months apart, made up a majority of Staples’ 30-song setlist from his homecoming show last night (August 23) at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles. The 90-minute concert was streamed live via Amazon Music and had Staples diving deep into past projects.
The set design pictured a flower shop toted as “Ramona’s Flowers” which was lifted from the merch that was being sold around the release of Ramona Park Broke My Heart. The floral backdrop provided a great stage for Staples to take us through songs from his entire catalog.
The first half of the show went through Staples’ last two releases, including hits like “AYE! (FREE THE HOMIES)” and “LEMONADE” from Ramona Park Broke My Heart then transitioned into B-sides from his self-titled LP like “LIL FADE” and “SUNDOWN TOWN”. He performed the personal “PLAYER WAYS” which was the first time this cut was performed live. Around the halfway mark Staples’ took time out of his set to talk about his relationship with the great Mac Miller, who produced one of Staples’ first mixtapes, 2013’s Stolen Youth LP. Staples credited Miller for believing in him early on then performed the outro from the album in more of a spoken-word style. This wasn’t the only time he reached back into some deep cuts.
Staples’ performed songs from his entire discography, going back to his underappreciated mixtape series Shyne Coldchain. He performed the single “Nate” from the second installment of the series originally released in 2014. He then went through his discography in chronological order, starting with his breakout single “Blue Suede” from his 2014 EP Hell Can Wait. Each of his albums got their shine at The Fonda that night, performing two cuts from each of his projects to then circle back to more songs from his latest two releases. The night ended with an energetic performance of the chart-topping “MAGIC” produced by west coast icon DJ Mustard.
Throughout the show Staples would also give little anecdotes about his music. He talked about how his self-titled LP, which was produced by his close-collaborator Kenny Beats, almost never saw the light of day due to budget restrictions. He poked fun at the poor reception of his sophomore album Big Fish Theory right before going into a fitting performance of his loose single “Get The Fuck Off My Dick”.
The full setlist can be seen below:
