Considering the captivating performance crew leader A$AP Rocky provided on the same stage just a year earlier, it was hard not to compare fellow A$AP Mob member A$AP Ferg's Festival d'été debut to it. Thankfully, the Trap Lord made the most of the massive Bell Stage and delivered a high-energy performance that was uniquely his own, and easily the standout set from the Full Flex Express's seven acts.
Backed by Marty Baller — the unsung hero of the festival's first day, given his boisterous, bouncing persona and on-point delivery — and a DJ spinning songs from Ferg's 2013 debut, a couple Mob cuts and subsequent solo mixtape, the Harlem trio offered a welcome respite from the evening's EDM- and ambient-focused acts, delivering tracks like "Work," crew classic "Hella Hoes" and "Dump Dump" at breakneck speed, with Ferg stopping only occasionally to jump into the crowd to show some love (losing his Tilley hat at one point in the process).
Given that most in attendance were there to see headliners Zeds Dead and Jack Ü, audience sing-alongs were sadly left to a minimum after a few botched tries at getting them to yell back Ferg's more popular hooks, and multiple attempts at starting "the biggest most pit ever" yielded lacklustre results that felt startlingly similar to Rocky's request on the same stage in 2014.
That being said, Ferg was clearly ready to go nuts, even if the crowd only seemed partially with him. "I didn't come to here to be cute and shit," he candidly said during one of the set's quieter moments. "I came here to turn the fuck up." That he did, and although he probably didn't quite get the response from fans he expected, he managed to give one of the more memorable performances found on the Plains of Abraham in recent memory.
Backed by Marty Baller — the unsung hero of the festival's first day, given his boisterous, bouncing persona and on-point delivery — and a DJ spinning songs from Ferg's 2013 debut, a couple Mob cuts and subsequent solo mixtape, the Harlem trio offered a welcome respite from the evening's EDM- and ambient-focused acts, delivering tracks like "Work," crew classic "Hella Hoes" and "Dump Dump" at breakneck speed, with Ferg stopping only occasionally to jump into the crowd to show some love (losing his Tilley hat at one point in the process).
Given that most in attendance were there to see headliners Zeds Dead and Jack Ü, audience sing-alongs were sadly left to a minimum after a few botched tries at getting them to yell back Ferg's more popular hooks, and multiple attempts at starting "the biggest most pit ever" yielded lacklustre results that felt startlingly similar to Rocky's request on the same stage in 2014.
That being said, Ferg was clearly ready to go nuts, even if the crowd only seemed partially with him. "I didn't come to here to be cute and shit," he candidly said during one of the set's quieter moments. "I came here to turn the fuck up." That he did, and although he probably didn't quite get the response from fans he expected, he managed to give one of the more memorable performances found on the Plains of Abraham in recent memory.
