With all the preparation, manpower, and organization necessary to put a concert together, let alone a full tour, there are a lot of moving pieces to consider when the artist is finally on stage. Sometimes, the stage dynamics can be a little too cumbersome. That's what happened to Steve Lacy at a recent show during his Give You The World North American tour for his new album Gemini Rights when the smoke machine was giving the show way too much atmosphere.
In clips of the incident, you can see Lacy trying to sing along to his 2017 hit, "Some," but all the smoke in the air forces him to retreat to the back of the stage, coughing and hacking.
"They trying to kill me with this goddamn smoke, s**t!" he said, later coughing as he goes out of the stage's view. "They trying to kill me, y'all!"
Unfortunately, this is not the biggest hiccup to have happened over the course of the 24-year-old's tour. Many fans and social media users have pointed out that many people are going to Steve Lacy's tour just to see his most recent big hit, "Bad Habit," which has become a TikTok powerhouse. As its turned out in a lot of viral clips from shows, many of these "fake" fans don't know the words to his songs, making for a more awkward show atmosphere and connection between artist and admirer.
Such tensions (if you can even call them that) peaked at a New Orleans performance, where a fan threw a disposable camera at Lacy while he was performing. It might remind readers of the incident at this year's Rolling Loud Miami, where Kid Cudi walked off stage just a few songs into his set after hecklers were throwing water bottles at him while he performed. A similar situation happened to Pusha T, who asked fans to stop trying to jump on stage during his shows.
Similar to the Cudi incident, the California musician's New Orleans show was cut short. When the camera was thrown, Lacy stopped the song to ask fans not to throw things on stage before asking for the camera back and smashing it on stage. He did not return to the stage that night after walking off.
The "Gemini Rights" artist recently explained his thought process behind the interaction and said that while he could've reacted better, he's human at the end of the day. Let's hope that the rest of Steve Lacy's shows aren't just enjoyable for fans, but most importantly, fulfilling and safe for the artist. Artists don't deserve to catch the smoke on stage.
