It’s a new era for the Ramova Theatre and also, apparently, for Chance the Rapper.
On Friday night, the newly restored Bridgeport gem of a venue welcomed its first major event, a nearly two-hour concert headlined by the popular hometown talent in a way we haven’t totally seen him before.
Chance was pulling double duty on this night — as superstar headliner and theater co-owner — continuing his personal investment in the city he calls home. As part-owner of the South Side venue alongside Jennifer Hudson and Quincy Jones, Chance is among a group of investors who returned the Bridgeport venue to its glory days after it sat vacant and in total disrepair for 40 years.
Unveiling the theater’s new look was a main event itself on Friday night. The former movie palace revealed itself as a fully-fledged concert hall. Sans fixed seating for the first time in its history, the 1,800-cap hall offers tiered floors and a balcony providing great sightlines, an ultra-modern sound system that produces a wall of crisp notes, and an adjoining restaurant and brewery that all ads up to a major new contender in Chicago’s entertainment scene.
Chance also unveiled a new side to himself that felt just as much deserving of a ribbon cutting on this night.
“This is a different kind of show for me,” the rapper told the crowd after opening with “No Problem” and a blast from confetti guns that christened the Ramova with a bouquet of streamers.
The show, dubbed “B-sides & Seasides,” was Chance’s first time performing in Chicago since last August when he celebrated the 10-year anniversary of landmark mixtape project “Acid Rap,” and it’s clear the rapper is ready to move into a new part of his journey.
“I’m in a place in my life of just liking what I like,” he added during the set, explaining it would be full of the “B sides” he never gets to perform, and some “C sides” (or “Seasides”) that he has not released and would be bringing in front of an audience for the first time. He was aided by a deft ensemble of musicians including longtime collaborators Nico Segal on trumpet, keyboardist Peter CottonTale and drummer Stix, as well as a fleet of backup vocalists.
The new material seemed to pull from Chance’s much-anticipated upcoming album, “Star Line Gallery,” that has been teased for years, though he seems to be getting closer to its full release.
In December, during an Instagram Live session, he said it would see the light of day this spring. At Friday’s show, Chance hinted something was brewing, sharing, “I can’t wait to drop another album” and stating, “There are a lot of things I’m celebrating tonight; opening up this venue on the South Side and also my new project ‘Star Line’ coming out this year.” It was met with uproarious applause from the crowd that drew all ages, even a few pint-sized fans enjoying it all in their parents’ arms ( the rapper’s children were in attendance as well).
While Chance has always been a cerebral creator, a unifying entertainer and an unyielding poet, his gifts and the very meaning behind his work have never been more on display than with this “Star Line” material, developed in, around and after the time he and fellow Chicago talent Vic Mensa held their inaugural Black Star Line Festival in Ghana in January 2023. It will be his first full-length record since 2019’s “The Big Day.”
Sure, songs like “No Problem” and “Cocoa Butter Kisses” are always fabulous to hear live, they don’t hold a candle to the level of artistry found in “The Negro Problem,” the as-of-now suggested title Chance shared for the new tune with its series of lyrics that harken to James Baldwin.
The clear juxtaposition of Chance’s early works and current material was a total mindshift throughout the night. While he hyped the crowd and jumped around the stage on songs like “Work Out,” Chance flipped the switch with his latest tracks, sitting on a stool, reading from a black marble composition notebook while his poignant lyrics were projected on the walls around him in a fully-encompassing sensory experience that you can only hope he continues to lean into.
Chance talked about the fear that comes in creating for people and thanked “all the artists” in the room that share their works in spite of it.
“Thank you for letting me doing something so weird and different,” he added. And though he said that times change, people change and his music will change, Chance affirmed, “I will always be 100% myself,” giving a foreshadow of what may be one of his greatest works yet with “Star Line Gallery.”
As he said, “Be ready for some bars, be ready for some magnifiques, and be ready for me.”
SET LIST
*NOTE: List includes new songs performed for which titles are not yet available.
- No Problem
- Brain Cells
- Work Out
- I Might Need Security
- Summer Friends
- The Highs & The Lows
- Dead Beats
- [New Song]*
- The Negro Problem (unreleased)
- [New Song]*
- Prom Night
- I’m The One (DJ Khaled song)
- A Bar About A Bar
- The Heart & The Tongue
- [New Song]*
- Cocoa Butter Kisses
- Mixtape
- Slide Around
- Ultralight Beam (Kanye West song)
- Town on the Hill
- I Will Be Your (Black Star Line Freestyle)
- YAH Know
- [New Song]*
- Child of God
- Same Drugs
