Macklemore and Ryan Lewis pumped up the crowd with a fun and high-energy filled show on Saturday at the Palace of Auburn Hills, MI.
Last year the Seattle-based rapper (Macklemore) and producer/DJ (Lewis) performed at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit to a small group of fans. ( 800+ capacity) This year at The Palace the Hip-Hop duo performed to over 6,000 fans, quite a jump and I’m happy for their success!
Their popularity has soared with the debut album The Heist producing big hits like Thrift Shop and Can’t Hold Us.
I like The Heist album a lot and the show opened with the song Ten Thousand Words. A few songs into the set he performed Same Love along with vocalist Mary Lambert, who sings on the studio version too.
Macklemore sported a Detroit jersey as fireworks, confetti and wild stories filled the stage. He also incorporated old school elements like beat boxin’ and freestyle rapping into his show.
He kept things interesting in between songs by going into goofy long-winded tales, including more sincere matters like his recovery battling drug addiction. He definitely has storytelling ability as he kept myself and the audience engaged each time.
My favorite story was after a few songs he started talking about how he arrived in Detroit early and decided to go to Lake Michigan. He took in the view of the lake and decided to take his clothes off and jump in. While he is in the lake he noticed two guys going through his things who then run off with his clothes. So here he was standing alone and naked in the lake. Now, at this point in the story the crowd and myself knew it was leading into a some type of punch line and we were waiting for it!
He continued saying how he noticed an old lady feeding birds and he went over to her. She told him to get on her back so she could carry him. He hesitated as she was so old but he did it. As the woman starts carrying him off he asked her where she was taking him. The old woman replied that he had no clothes so she was taking him to the thrift shop. He goes right into performing the hit song and I loved the whole interlude even if it was a goofy way to introduce Thrift Shop.
My appreciation for Macklemore’s humble gestures took a step further when during his encore he took a few minutes to introduce everyone on stage with him. He started introductions from his back up dancers to his trombone, cello and violin players. He was very sincere in giving recognition to everyone that is part of his live show.
Also, he performed his biggest hit twice! It was awesome and I have not seen an artist do that before. He started telling fans that it was near the end of the tour and he would not be back until next year so he wanted to hear Detroit go crazy one more time and he went into performing Can’t Hold Us again.
I loved the live show and I look forward to the future of Macklemore and wish the duo continued success.
Music Reportage 
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