LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: Saba in Boston, MA (06.15.25)
The love for Hip-Hop as an entity was in the building on Sunday night in Boston Royale for Saba’s The Big Picture Tour. From the music selection in between sets, all the way to the final words Saba put into the mic, a feeling of expressive joy for the genre was felt.
We started off the night with Chicago’s own DJ Oreo to set the tone. DJ Oreo gave the audience a special feeling of involvement by asking the crowd what type of music/artists they would like to hear. After some sort of a consensus he would go on to play a few songs of the crowd’s choice before going into a set of his own. Displaying high energy and being an extension of the audience was a tactic that worked in his favor. He made sure to finish his set off with a song that everybody knew before giving his thanks to the crowd and calling it a night for himself. Overall a great DJ set for DJ Oreo and definitely one that will stick with the Big Picture crowd from that night.
As the night progressed, our next act was Oakland rapper and producer Ovrkast. Freshly coming off his May 30th release of his new album “While The Iron Is Hot”. Starting off his set with the crowd’s and my personal favorite from him “truth?”. Showing his musical prowess from time to time he would integrate the drum/beat machine he had displayed on the stool with him. Controlling some of the small intricacies of the song to make the live versions feel slightly more unique than the recorded ones. His set would continue and we would get to the portion of it where his song featuring Vince Staples “Strange Ways” was performed. This was an important moment for Ovrkast as he mentioned that this song is one that at every stop so far on the tour was the most rewarding to perform. That would be because of how he relies on the audience to give him back the energy he is giving off with the performance. He would bounce back and forth from him to the crowd making it the staple moment of his set and one that will have fans walking away wanting more of Ovrkast.
Once the clock struck 9:35 p.m. the moment everyone was waiting for had finally arrived. The live band was introduced and Saba joined them on stage. Saba opened it up by mentioning how it has been three years since he last performed in Boston and how he is going to fill his time with plenty of songs to make up for the lost time. He would dive deep into his latest album From The Private Collection Of Saba and No ID. The crowd was immediately active during his performance of the intro from said album, “Every Painting Has A Price”. The set was full of a beautiful combination of the live drums, keys, and strings which brought a different essence to the album and his catalog as a whole. “Stomping” is a song worth jumping to and one where the beat thumps, but live it was more a groovy vibe feel to it and I personally love the versatility that these tracks had with the band. Saba brought it all the way back to Bucket List Project and continue advancing through his discography with his magnum opus “Care For Me”. Songs from both of those album gave a joyful and nostalgic feel to the set and it spread throughout the audience. It is safe to say that not only being one of the most skilled rappers, Saba is one of the best performers to come through the Hip-Hop scene is a while.
Photos – Saba at Royale in Boston, MA on June 15th:
