It made perfect sense that celebrated hip hop artist Chance the Rapper held his final tour stop on a Sunday.
There are many things that make the Grammy Award-winning rapper unique, but chief among them is the prominence of his Christian faith in his work and in his live performances. At Citizens Live at the Wylie on the Lower Hill on Sunday night, Chance captivated the energetic crowd with heartfelt discussion of prayer and God in between songs.
This was the last stop of his 10 year anniversary tour celebrating his 2016 mixtape “Coloring Book,” a project that catapulted the rapper into the mainstream.
But before Chance the Rapper took the stage, the arriving crowd was treated to a pleasant surprise: a standout set from young upstart New Orleans rapper La Reezy, who provided both valuable energy and a positive start to the evening. Focusing on topics like family, community and love, he got the crowd thinking with dual-perspective song ‘God Forgive Me” and got the crowd jumping with “We Live.”
“Y’all have a beautiful city, y’all should be proud,” the first-time Pittsburgh visitor said.
After a brief DJ set from Chance the Rapper’s longtime collaborator Peter Cottontale, the headliner kicked off his set with “Coloring Book” opening track “All We Got.”
Throughout the next 100 minutes, he performed 12 of the 14 tracks of “Coloring Book,” plus a selection of other songs. Next up came the transcendent and celebratory “Blessings,” which got the audience waving their arms in the air. “Summer Friends” was more low-key and bass-heavy, transitioning smoothly into “Angels.”
“This is the last night, this is the only show I’m going to remember,” he joked from the stage.
One of Chance’s most impressive qualities is his versatility. When “Coloring Book” came out in in 2016, there were a plethora of subgenres of hip-hop that were coming and going, ebbing and … well, flowing. The crowd jumped along to the more old-school banger “All Night” but Chance also excelled over the more chill trap beat on “Mixtape.”
In between, he pulled out a powerful performance of soaring gospel-tinged tune “No Problem,” one of his most popular songs. The tour crew pulled out all the stops, with thundering drums, confetti raining down and bouts of fog blasting up from the stage.
During “The Highs and the Lows,” with sleepier rapping, he did some fun freestyling where he shouted out his band and longtime fans, while also interpolating snippets of “Doo Wop (That Thing” by Lauryn Hill and “My Boo” by Usher and Alicia Keys.
During ‘Smoke Break,” he had fun with an autotune mic, singing his banter with the crowd. ‘Front row, can I tell you something? When you’re at my show, no matter where you’re at, you’re in the front row,” he warbled.
He also performed several songs from his most recent album, 2025’s “STAR LINE,” including the earnest “Link Me in the Future.” Then he pulled out a collaboration with Kanye West, “Ultralight Beam,” that included some very layered production and an uplifting feel.
He got the crowd involved in a cover of Nico Segal and the Social Experiment song “Sunday Candy,” perfect for the time and place, and really let the audience vibe with the song’s repeating chorus. Then, after “Finish Line/Drown,” he paused to talk about God.
He said that on every night of the tour, he prays before going onstage. “Every night, I pray for y’all’s safety,” he said. “This is the first time in the whole tour where I didn’t ask for something, I just said thank you.”
As the reprise of “Blessings,” a slower, more contemplative and church-like version, began, he cried tears of joy (in his own words). He and the whole crowd sang the song with a reverence and gratitude that felt spiritual.
He ended the night with two highly contrasting songs, the light and loving “Cocoa Butter Kisses” and the dark and severe “Same Drugs.” The whole end of the show felt like a pure celebration of a decade filled with love, support and music. And he graciously thanked the entire crew of the tour before taking a bow and leaving the stage among a blizzard of confetti.
“No one welcomes us like Pittsburgh!” he called to the roaring crowd before letting the lights go down on an amazing tour.