Ice Spice: “Y2K Tour” at Birmingham’s O2 Institute
After briefly postponing the date and switching venues, Ice Spice brought her energetic energy and catchy hits to Birmingham’s O2 Institute on 5th November for the final show on the UK leg of her "Y2K World Tour". The concert was originally supposed to take place nearby at the O2 Academy but, due to the rapper having to change plans and attend a Fortnite event in her hometown of New York City, the venue was altered. The venue change was not an issue for me personally, as I always appreciate how much character the venue possesses and how grand the interior feels, and the alteration meant I could experience the main room of the O2 Institute after first attending an intimate gig in the venue’s ground floor room earlier this year.
Dedicated Ice Spice fans had been queuing since 1pm on the day to try and secure the honour of front row barrier. One concert-goer, in particular, was someone I’ve met at previous shows named Tucker, a walking autograph collector who is covered in tattoos of his favourite artists and their signatures. Not only was this Tucker’s second time seeing Ice Spice on the UK stretch of her current tour, but he also first met her when he was invited on stage to rage with none other than Travis Scott, during the Texan rapper’s performance at Tottenham Stadium earlier this year. Travis noticed Tucker holding a flag with Ice Spice’s face on it and Travis said “you know she’s here right?”, which came as a surprise to the fan as she was a surprise guest at the stadium. Following that gig, the devoted fan got a tattoo piece inspired by these two artists and, at the Manchester show of the Y2K tour, he acquired Ice’s signature when meeting her which he then got tattooed by her portrait on his arm, all before the Birmingham show!
Ice Spice was supported on the night by an artist called Bktherula, a fellow female rapper hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, who performed an incredible 30-minute set. I had never heard of the artist before this show but she delivered a brilliant set, naturally warming up the crowd so they were more than ready for the Bronx-born rapper to later grace the stage. The stage visuals for Bktherula’s set consisted of meme-inspired images, as well as a short video which consistently repeated and replayed the same sequence throughout. The Atlanta native even took the time to take a fan’s phone during her set, recording a selfie video of herself performing on stage for the fan to cherish forever.
Amongst a misty, colourfully-lit atmosphere, stage crew then set the scene for the highly-anticipated main event to take to the stage. Through the vibrant fog, fans caught a glimpse of an enormous inflatable cartoon version of Ice Spice being erected to the left of the stage, which would later remain throughout the entire set. Despite initial worries that the artist wouldn’t show, Ice Spice arrived fashionably late and graced Birmingham’s stage at around 9:40pm, dressed in a black co-ord set, sporting a big diamond necklace in the shape of a butterfly.
I thoroughly enjoyed her entire set and was quite shocked that such a mainstream artist wasn’t performing in a bigger venue, however this was her first official UK tour other than previous festival appearances, so fans were treated to a more intimate setting. Ice was joined on stage throughout the night by an ensemble of dancers who collectively performed in faultless synchronicity with each other. At one point one of the male dancers grabbed a filming setup which he filmed Ice with which was then projected live onto the screen for everyone in the crowd to see.
The visuals during Ice Spice’s set were eye catching and accompanied her set flawlessly. One visual I specifically remember was a moving subway train where you could see the NYC cityscape through the windows, a scene which depicted a daily occurrence for most commuters in the city that never sleeps.
Ice keenly and frequently interacted with fans, even taking one fan’s phone and recording footage of herself performing on it which I’m sure the fan will treasure. Outside, after the concert finished, I managed to watch the video, as a multitude of fans flocked to the rear of the venue in hopes of meeting the star up close, after she ended the show by saying “I’ll see you outside, my babies”.
This was also the first concert my girlfriend accompanied me to and she also really enjoyed the show, raving about it to me for days after the concert. Seeing the hip-hop artist live has become a fond memory for both of us; she was an amazing artist to see for our first concert together.
Whether you listen to Ice Spice on repeat, listen to her features on other artists’ records or hear her on the radio, the catchiness and memorability of her songs is undeniable. Hip-hop is sometimes still perceived as a male-dominated genre despite there being many successful women within the genre, so it’s always refreshing to witness female hip-hop artists like Ice Spice amass a huge following. Her influence and success will likely continue to grow as she certainly knows how to put on an unforgettable show, as her performance at Birmingham’s O2 Institute has proven.
