SZA’S SOS TOUR- Chicago

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SZA’S SOS TOUR

United Center, Chicago, IL

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

By Kookiee

With a second album that was able to deliver after being long overdue, the SOS tour matched the delivery and then some.

SZA’s grammy nominated debut album CTRL was released in 2017 and received high praises that left many wanting more. Over the years, while dropping singles and features, the anticipation that had built for SOS finally came to an end on December 9th, 2022. With 23 songs, SZA proved that all good things come to those who wait. SOS debuted on Billboard 200 at number one, made history by staying top charted for nine weeks and continues to bring in many successes. Four days after launching SOS, Top Dawg Entertainment singer announced on her Instagram that it was “time to take this sh*t on tour!” with fifthteen arenas across North America and two in Canada with opener Omar Apollo. The SOS tour is SZA and Apollo’s first arena tour run in their careers.

The second stop for the SOS tour happened in Chicago’s United Center- a huge upgrade from her 2017 CTRL tour at Concord Music Hall, with Omar Apollo taking over the stage. Having this first generation Mexican-American singer on the bill made perfect sense as he added the perfect soulful vibe to this tour. Going right into his set, Apollo presented himself with a mic stand in the middle of the stage and a 3 piece band that was off to the side. It was quite noticeable that the 25 year old was holding back from his performance but that didn’t stop the crowd with the positively loud responses as he hit those angelic notes. He made sure to mention once he finished performing “Petrified’ from his debut album IVORY, that he “f*cks with Chicago”. Right after that, the Best New Artist nominee broke out with some dance moves and rocked out as he finally started to become comfortable with this Chicago crowd while singing to “Invincible”. During his 11 song set, the Indiana Native announced that “this is the biggest crowd I ever played in front of” and showed gratitude towards SZA for allowing him to be part of this tour. Apollo also performed his new song “3 Boys” and his viral TikTok song “Evergreen”.

Once Omar Apollo walked off stage, the production team went straight into setting up for the main event. Meanwhile, the United Center surely wasn’t just sitting and waiting around during the intermission but having a dance party- you can hear the uplifting cheers throughout the arena for an attendee in the 300 level. A loud roar then occurred from the crowd once the visuals of blue clouds and thunder appeared on stage with sounds of waves and a SOS distress signal. As the screen lifts up, following the theme from her album cover, the former marine biology major is seen sitting on the edge of a diving board as she opens up with “PSA” where she then tosses her mic to the water and jumps in right after. In big letters, ‘THE SOS TOUR starting SZA’ appears on the screen to indicate that this creative production was about to take us on a wild beautiful boat ride.

As the screen ascends, the stage is now set up as a dock and a reappearing SZA with four backup dancers perform “Seek & Destroy”, setting the tone of the storyline that was about to be presented to her Chicago fans. SZA also brought it back to those CTRL days with her song featuring Travis Scott “Love Galore” as well as “Broken Clocks”, which had fans singing at the top of their lungs and continued to do so for the rest of the night. With SZA rushing off the stage, you can hear the Ol’ Dirty Bastard freestyle sample in “Forgiveless” along with the screen coming back down while having tribute visuals of ODB in black and white where then Solana Rowe comes back out dressed in black with the background of a boat’s engine room, rapping a a bit of her part from the song. SZA also paid tribute to Erykah Badu by covering her song “Bag Lady”, which fit perfectly with the storyline of SZA being heartbroken and upset- this Badu cover served as a warning to her actions that ‘one day all them bags will get in your way, pack light’.

Bringing it back to the SOS records with “Blind” and “Shirt”- SZA performs a dance number while being followed by a blue orb, making it seem like she is underwater. A submarine then submerges onto the screen after SZA walks off stage then switches to SZA being behind the stage, showing the audience the behind the scene action while she also performs “Smoke on my ex pack”. She is then lifted up together with the screen to give the illusion for the next stage set up of her being on top of a sailboat as her dancers are scooping water out the boat. In the middle of performing with this stage setup, a spectacular guitar solo transition between“Garden/Say Like That” and “F2F” by Ari O’Neal had everyone’s head banging, even the United Center’s sound crew joined in. SZA is then seen coming off the boat and laying down in the middle of the stage to perform “Drew Berrymore”, an absolute fan favorite.

snoozeThe background visuals then change as if the sailboat is heading into a storm- strong winds causing water to splash high, going through rocky glaciers while having a red hue light over the whole stage. Although all this madness is happening, SZA is performing with her dancers to “Doves in the Wind”, a slow soul tempo song. Now back on the boat, the tone at this time becomes very serious as the inclement weather picks up during “Low”- a visual comes down of the boat waving back and forth with the crazy waves, lighting effects and suspenseful music. The mood subsequently becomes calm. Seen floating on an orange life raft in a yellow dress and throwing pedals, SZA starts singing to her emotional songs “Supermodel” and “Gone Girl” as she makes her way towards a lighthouse on the other end of the arena and back to the stage. At this point of the production, we are brought underwater with the stage having an enormous anchor, part of a wrecked ship and visuals of a coral reef and other aquatic settings, continuing the soft tone with “Snooze”.

A change of course occurs when performing a crowd’s favorite, “Kill Bill”. This production, much like the music video, was based on the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film. SZA comes out waving around a spikey ball and chain then breaks into a cool fighting choreography. Ultimately, the show had to come to its conclusion as SZA is back sitting at the edge of the diving board- this time wearing a red dress and the visuals goes from her being in this open water with the sunset to then gracefully took us on a ride up to the stars all while singing “Good Days”. We then see the words “THE END” and a roll of credits, closing this SOS tour stop in Chicago. Before people got to leaving, a sneak peek for the music video of “Low” appeared on the screen but while this was happening, a familiar voice in the background was asking “Is this on? Can you hear me?”. SZA comes back on stage to give a meaningful thank you speech to her Chicago fans- something you don’t see many artists do at the end of their high level performance, which made this Chicago stop even more special.

The SOS tour creatively tells the tale, both visually and sonically, of the many trials and tribulations one goes through with love and the clear message that you will see the good days at the end of the storm. Proving that SZA is becoming more than what we know the singer to be, having performed over 30 songs, went through different outfit changes, danced multiple choreographies without skipping a beat- iconic, to say the least. This tour is definitely one of those events you have to catch when it comes to town.