Ken Car$on and Destroy Lonely are the frontrunners of Playboi Carti’s Opium record label. Accordingly, the pair embarked on The X Man Tour together (with support from Lil 88) to show off their musical talents and why they deserve to be signed to one of the biggest musicians in the world. On August 17, 2022, the pair brought this tour to Toronto – performing in front of a sold-out audience at The Opera House.
The Toronto stop of the tour happened at the perfect time as Car$on released his X album on July 8, 2022, and Lonely released his NO STYLIST album on August 12, 2022. Therefore, both musicians had new content to promote and perform.
The show began with a DJ set from Lil 88. 88, being a frequent producer for Car$on, Lonely, and Carti, produced many of the audience’s favourite songs and was cognizant of the type of music that the audience were fans of. Therefore, his set intelligently consisted mainly of hits from Carti’s Whole Lotta Red album. As many of Car$on and Lonely’s fans discovered their music through Carti and are big fans of him, performing a Carti-centric DJ set got the audience elated from the get-go. It also made the show feel like a complete experience for any Opium fan.
After 88, Lonely came on stage. Lonely’s music consists of playful lyrics – spoken with a hypnotic lilt – over airy synths and euphoric beats. This made for great live music as it created a stimulating atmosphere that uplifted the audience. The audience was quite literally in a trance-like movement for the entirety of his set with dancing and moshing ensuing from start to finish.
After Lonely’s set, Car$on came on stage. Similar to Lonely’s music, but also distinct in its own way, Car$on’s music consists of playful lyrics spoken over explosive synths and beats with hard-hitting 808s. The audience was just as enthused as they were during Lonely’s set – exhibiting the same aforementioned trance-like movement. The highlight of the show came in the latter half of Car$on’s set when Lonely came on stage and the two performed their collaboartive songs MDMA, Murda Musik, and VETERAN together. Seeing the musical synergy and chemistry of the two labelmates was a phenomenal experience.
Ultimately, The X Man Tour is definitely a must-see show. Upcoming tour dates can be found here.
*Header photo from Ticketmaster