Portland-born rapper, Aminé, brought his 'The Best Tour Ever Tour' to Chicago's Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom on March 17th, 2022. It was my first time at Arago Ballroom and I must say it is one of the coolest venues I've ever been in. Even though it's a 5,000 capacity space, it feels intimate. There is a huge open floor for concertgoers to go hard and a nice balcony surrounding both sides and back for those who just want a good view of the stage.

Leading up to the show, Aminé posted on Twitter saying that Chicago was one of the biggest venues on his tour and wanted the city to show up and show out for his performance. I'm here to tell you that's exactly what Chicago did. Not only did they sell out the show before the doors opened, the fans brought all the energy from the first second Aminé stepped on stage until the second he walked off.

It's been over a year since the release of Aminé's latest album TWOPOINTFIVE, so fans had plenty of time to memorize the words to their favorite songs. Since Aminé didn't have anything new new to highlight during the show, this gave him a chance to perform his top hits from over the years like "Caroline" and "Charmander" to his new blowout single "REEL IT IN" which the fans went absolutely crazy for. I'm excited to see what's next for this young talented artist.

I know most fans were there for Aminé, as was I, but I was equally excited to see London-based rapper AJ Tracey. The last time I got to see him perform in the US was at SXSW back in 2017. AJ Tracey was reppin' a classic tracksuit look and brought all the bars during his performance. A highlight for me was when he performed "Pasta" which the crowd seemed to vibe to as well.

Photos by Matt Ogilvie