At the end of the San Francisco show, the members of 88Rising hug. This stop marks the end of the national 88 Degrees and Rising tour.
By: Alexander Phan
The flashing lights, loud music, and the energy of the building, were just few of the wonderful things I can remember from the 88Rising concert in San Francisco this Halloween. I’ve never felt such ecstatic energy before as each song played had me bouncing up and down with the beat. The colored lights and pounding bass offered a vibe so electric, my phone could’ve started charging itself. There was even a Chinese dragon dance in the middle of the audience with confetti pouring into the crowd.
88Rising gave each member of the audience something to fall in love with, filling its entire cast with amazing artists. The most popular artists including Joji and Rich Brian put forth some of their most popular and iconic songs, hyping up the crowd and allowing them to sing every word while getting turned up with the music. Even lesser known artists like August 08 and KOHH got me excited to hear every single song they played until the very end.
Each artist had wonderful fan interactions while performing, often talking to the crowd and responding to comments from the audience such as “I love you!” It sometimes felt as if they were talking directly to each individual within the audience.
The four-hour experience never had a boring moment. Each artist filled up an act loaded with high energy songs, dances and wild performances. The DJs also made sure that each interlude between acts were entertaining, filling the time between each acts with other popular songs. This gave the audience have a short amount of time to take in all of their feelings about the previous act and post anything on social media.
The music itself was something I’ll always remember, with iconic songs from all artists played with such energy. Almost every song was played with such intense bass that I could feel my bones and entire body shaking. Even the slower paced songs from Joji and August 08 had me feeling hyped and in my feels simultaneously.
The venue itself wasn’t too crowded. I got into the auditorium relatively quickly, and was able to find a spot near the front of the stage. Even an hour into the concert, I felt as if there was still lots of room to move around in the audience.
The only problem I had with the concert was that at some points, it felt like a waiting game for the more popular artists such as Joji to appear, since 88Rising put their most popular artists last in the lineup of performances.
Overall, the concert was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had, offering such high energy performances that had me euphoric for nearly four hours.