When Lil Nas X brought his Long Live Montero Tour to Sydney, fresh from bringing in the new year at Falls Festival with the Wiggles, he proved that he never half asses a thing. This inaugural international tour establishes Nas not only as a superior pop star, but as an incredibly clever conceptual artist.
From a staging of breakout hit ‘Old Town Road’ preceded by classic Western ditties and a giant golden horse gliding onto the stage, to a performance of ‘Call Me By Your Name’ culminating in gigantic butterfly wings fluttering from Lil Nas’ back – the whole extravaganza is fabulously camp, and shamelessly gay. Graphic backdrops and video interludes add a surreal and intergalactic dimension, as well as furthering the narrative, which is, essentially, the tale of how a kid called Montero Hill became the notorious Lil Nas X.
Flanked by a troupe of lithe back-up dancer boys and dressed in a parade of envy-inducing costumes, Nas is a consummate entertainer, evidently just as adept at courting attention as he is at courting controversy. His rapping and singing sounds just as powerful live as it does in his highly produced hit singles, and he regularly jokes with and speaks to the audience, even throwing out a few “Aussie! Aussie! Aussies!” (to which we all compulsively shout back “Oi! Oi! Oi!”). Perhaps this is something he picked up on his visit to Oxford Street stalwart the Stonewall the previous evening? (Just imagine bumping into Lil Nas X when popping into the Stony for some casual Tuesday night karaoke…)
On the surface, Nas is a joyful and defiant presence in popular culture, breaking the mould of both the hyper-masculine legacy of rap music, the white-washed norm of the pop genre, and the heteronormativity of both. Dig a little deeper, and there are more intriguing layers to his rise to fame, from the way he was controversially excluded from the country music charts, to his fake beef with Nike. As a gay, Black man from the American south, he has a cutting perspective on masculinity, religion and more topics that make excellent fodder for university essays. His messages clearly strike a chord with the Aussie punters who braved the summer rain to see him.
The audience filtering into the Hordern Pavilion included a range of young femmes, gay gents of all strokes, mulleted lesbians, enthusiastic allies, and a few confused straight boyfriends who’d clearly been dragged along with their girlfriends. A smattering of sparkles and cowboy hats was sprinkled between them all. A handful of young children were also privileged enough to see the joyful and affirming parade of queer pride and Black talent on stage. You'd hope that some of the more x-rated references went over their heads – but honestly, they'd probably see much more suggestive content at a Katy Perry concert.
As evidenced by the free printed programs distributed around the venue, Long Live Montero is treated as a full production, not your typical pop concert. And it’s a nice touch to have the set list (separated into three ‘acts’) and details of the show’s creators and performers handy.
Nas left the audience wanting more, with the proceedings wrapping up after an hour – no intermission, no encore. It’s easy to forget that he only has one album to draw on, considering how prolific he has become in such a short time.
But the real letdown, especially for those of us straining our necks from the floor, was the difficulty in actually seeing what was happening on stage. Most concerts nowadays would have large screens either side of the stage, projecting a zoomed-in live feed of the performance. In lieu of that, the height-challenged among us were spying a lot of the action through the phone screens of the people with their arms raised ahead of us. Fat chance of seeing any floorwork. Here’s hoping that next time he heads Down Under, Lil Nas is booking stadiums with better visual aids. We all deserve that.
Lil Nas X's Long Live Montero Tour, co-presented by Live Nation, toured to the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney as a Falls Festival Sideshow. This concert was reviewed on January 4, 2023.
