Show review: Big Sean, MadeinTYO, and more at the Fox on Saturday, March 25

On Saturday, Detroit was the tenth stop for hometown fav Big Sean’s “I Decided Tour.” The emcee, who had just turned 29 years-old, didn’t hold anything back.


The night started with another local fave, Ypsilanti’s own Neisha Neshae. She was dressed in a two-piece embroidered white outfit as she performed a 5 song set highlighted by her mega hit, “On a Cloud.” The self-proclaimed “queen of R&B trap” was sexy, explicit, and entertaining.


Next up was rising star MadeinTYO (pounced Made in Tokyo) for an 11 song performance. He stormed the stage wearing a hoodie and a Carhartt skully, but eventually dropped the hoodie in favor of a Nike University of Michigan #1 jersey. He performed the cuts “Kelly Rowland,” “I Want It,” and “Bool’n” off his debut 2016 mixtape, You Are Forgiven. He also gave a magnetic performance of his super hit, “Uber Everywhere.” The crowd was feeling him and he took time to give props to Big Sean. MadeinTYO proved he was a force and he turned out to be the perfect set-up man for the main act: Big Sean.


Amidst a spattering of emerald blue LED lights and a dry ice type of fog, Big Sean emerged draped in white denim and bling. The visuals from his cut, “Halfway Off the Balcony” played on two dropped screens in the rear of the stage as the Detroit-born emcee launched into his 85-minute set.

Unlike previous Detroit performances, there were no surprise guest appearances, hype men, or elaborate stage settings. This show and this day was all about Big Sean; the man and the hip-hop artists coming home to Detroit to be with Detroit. He was energetic, he was savvy, and he obviously felt at home. He gave the crowd 7 cuts off his I Decided LP (his second consecutive number 1 album) and dropped his guest spot bars from Kayne West's “Mercy” and “The Clique,” along with Chief Keef’s “I Don’t Like,” and Drake’s “All Me.”


MadeinTYO came back out to perform the remix of, “Skateboard P” which dropped this past February and features 16 bars form Big Sean. Sean then slowed it down and took a 10-minute pause in the action to shootout his parents who were in the audience, his love for Detroit, the risk he took pursuing his music dreams, and how proud he was to accept the “Key to the City” from mayor Mike Duggan earlier that same afternoon.

He closed the set with a monstrous performance of “I Don’t Fuck with You,” and five thousand fans walked out of Fox Theater feeling electric.