J. Cole had the audience in the palm of his hand from the very first moment at Utilita Arena Birmingham, delivering a two-hour show that mixed his biggest hits with intimate crowd interaction.
Sat, hood up, in the audience, he began singing "39 Intro" under a single spotlight, then made his way through the middle of the standing crowd, clasping hands with fans as he sang. The auditorium then went dark, and a car, said to be his old car, was slowly dropped down onto the stage with the lights on, like something from Back to the Future. A whole set of an old house, complete with a clock tower, grass and a tree stump, appeared on stage.
A hometown tribute and a call for community
Dropping effortlessly into "Two Six" and "Safety," the crowd spat lyrics back at him from his latest album before the car rose back into the rafters, and J. Cole went up on the roof of the stage home to sing "Poor Thang." Calling for the arena lights to be turned up so he could "see everyone who came tonight," he appreciated everyone singing his lyrics back to him and was thrilled to discover someone from his hometown of Fayetteville in North Carolina in the crowd.
He praised the city of Birmingham, saying it was "really popping" and that he had just discovered that the "legendary" Black Sabbath were from here. Many of his songs are about coming from "the Ville," and he said "I don't come from nowhere like this but I'm proud to be where I am from," before heading into the thumping "Ville Mentality," off his 4 Your Eyez Only album.
Mashing up "Fire Squad" with "WHO T'F Iz Is U," there was some big North Carolina energy on the stage in that moment, and it was there throughout the entire show. It was incredible to think that one man, singing and rapping on his own, could be so mesmerising to watch, from his facial expressions to the way he bounced around the stage, constantly referring back to being in Birmingham and getting the crowd involved.
Audience becomes part of the show
At this point, he stopped and asked for "one favour," that everyone in the building be "in the Ville" for one song. In the spirit of community, everyone had been handed a white J. Cole towel with a picture of the car on their way in. So, for "Old Dog," everyone waved their towels in the air. Following "A Lot," he called to see who could sing "Johnny P's Caddy" with him, and loads of fans held up signs saying "Bar 4 Bar." Finally, he chose a group of four, keeping the camera on them in the crowd as they gave it their all.
Once again, he'd drawn the audience in and made them part of the show. In fact, despite the auditorium size, everyone in that audience likely felt like he was singing just for them. The car reappeared for "Lights Please," off his first studio album, and he again thanked the audience, saying "Birmingham know this gives me more confidence, you might know this one too." This was one of the most amazing moments of the show because he sang "Nobody's Perfect" almost completely a cappella, with just the crowd for accompaniment. Ending it, he said "Oh my f***ing god Birmingham."
Slick performance and a finale of hits
There was a lovely, friendly vibe throughout, and there was only one moment when he needed help, effortlessly dropping "security, security, security" into one of his raps and pointing to the crowd in front of him before seamlessly continuing with the song. There was a slickness to everything he did, with his voice not faltering once. "Work Out" raised the roof, he sang his lyrics on "The London" (by Young Thug), then the lasers went crazy for "Neighbours." "She Knows" was a highlight, as was him donning a cowboy hat for "The Let Out," which featured an awesome guitar solo, with the guitarist coming on stage to perform parts of it holding the guitar behind his head.
The bangers piled one on top of the other from here - "Bombs in the Ville," "Wet Dreamz," "G.O.M.D" - before teasing "Life Sentence" and going on to sing "Love Yourz." It was coming to the end, and he toyed with the audience, pretending it was nearly over, but of course there was then "Power Trip" and "No Role Modelz" to go, which sent the crowd wild. The final song - "Quik Stop" from The Fall Off - brought down the tempo, leaving everyone with his parting message following an amazing show, summed up with rolling credits to all the musicians, artists and producers involved on the screen.
This is his first tour of UK headline shows since 2017, and from Birmingham he's playing Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham and London before moving over to Europe.
