BY TER STAFF

Earlier tonight Macklemore and Ryan Lewis brought their 2016 tour to The Rave in Milwaukee, WI. Closing the U.S. leg of their “An Evening with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis” tour, Macklemore rocked the sold-out Milwaukee crowd with a memorable performance. While we can’t speak for the previous tour dates, you wouldn’t have guessed that it has been two years since the ‘Thrift Shop’ rapper has been on tour. If you went into tonight thinking that it would just be a rapper going over some of his instrumentals with a DJ in the background, you couldn’t have been more wrong!

The night kicked off as rapper Xperience (XP) hit the stage to warm up the crowd. Although XP was not billed on the lineup, the emerging rapper has been touring with Macklemore and company throughout the tour, introducing himself to city after city. And tonight’s crowd received a great introduction to the rapper, and although Milwaukee wasn’t rapping along word-for-word with XP this time around, he certainly set the great tone for the night and picked himself up some new Midwest fans.

However of course, the man (or men in this case) of the hour was Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. For this tour, the majority of the songs performed were off Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ critically acclaimed 2012 album The Heist, but the Seattle rapper definitely made time to sprinkle in some new music. The crowd’s energy level were certainly at a climix during Macklemore’s performance of his 2015 single ‘Downtown’, which is expected on Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ forthcoming LP This Unruly Mess I’ve Made, however ‘Growing Up’ and ‘White Privilege II’ were noticeably left out from the setlist. Although the latter may be because it’s a more political, less up-beat, and nine-minute song. However given the song’s recent popularity, and because it’s a great record, many fans would have loved to see a live performance.

In total, the performance was full of energy from start to finish. Contrasting from your average rap concert, Macklemore and company put a lot of production into the show, that looks like it was designed from an arena tour instead. All throughout the night Macklemore paid tribute to his Milwaukee fans, dubbing the crowd as the tour’s “best crowd yet”, and while this may be something he tells every crowd, because Milwaukee was the first show to completely sell out on the tour, he just may have meant it this time.

“An Evening with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis” isn’t your average show, in the same ways that Macklemore isn’t your average rapper and that Ryan Lewis isn’t your average producer. It’s almost impossible to pick one or two moments that stood out from tonight because the performance left fans consistently entertained throughout the night.

Check out our photos from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ Milwaukee tour stop below.

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