20th Anniversary of ‘The Documentary’ Tour
Compton-born rapper The Game brought his 20th Anniversary tour celebrating the music on his debut album The Documentary to Birmingham’s O2 Academy on 17th March.
Prior to The Game taking to the stage, the crowd was warmed up by his DJ and an Irish rapper named Offica. Fans got to see the main man around 09:30pm on the night when he appeared wearing a skull mask/balaclava. Accompanied by a backing band named The Furnace, The Game performed around 20-30 songs which included his own material as well as covers of well known hip-hop tracks such as Dr Dre’s “Next Episode”, Ice Cube’s “It Was A Good Day”, Travis Scott’s “FE!N”, Eazy E’s “Boyz N The Hood” and 2Pac’s “Hail Mary” amongst many more.
The Game still turned up to perform for his fans even though he was clearly very much unwell, after coming down with an illness and losing his voice whilst in Germany touring. He could have very well postponed, or even cancelled, the tour date in Birmingham altogether but he still turned up which says a lot about his character and his dedication to his fans. On the night you could have paid £160 to get a meet and greet with the man himself, however, he took the time to stand at the front barrier during his set to shake hands with fans.
The American hip-hop legend rocked an oversized-baggy tracksuit along with white Nike Air Force 1’s and a full gold teeth grill. Due to his loss of vocal range, his hype man and team often intervened to give The Game some time to recover. A moment I remember vividly is when they entered the crowd and moshed with fans when the DJ played Travis Scott’s “FE!N” and, when returning to the stage, The Game dabbed up his team who moshed amongst the standing crowd.
It was an absolute pleasure to catch The Game on tour, considering I missed his last tour when I tried seeing him in Bristol. This was the first time in around 5 years that the LA rapper has performed on UK soil so it was an unmissable and amazing experience.