REVIEW: Fetty Wap's Nostalgia Tour
Updated: Aug 12
"Y'all check this out, I've been working on my accents" said Mr. Wap, to a raucous, energetic, SOLD OUT crowd. He proceeded to do his best Boston and Australian accent which, I have to admit, was pretty decent!
This was just one tangent of many that Fetty Wap went on during his Nostalgia Tour Boston stop at MGM Music Hall in Fenway. The show itself felt like a victory lap; Fetty had spent the last 3 years in prison for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, amongst other substances. He certainly did not shy away from bringing this up, talking about his experiences during many parts of the show. In many ways, this made him more endearing and grounded; Willie Jr. Maxwell II wasn't afraid to own up to his mistakes, and unapologetically stated he was "on the straight and narrow" as well. Despite a handful of glaring issues that I took to the performance as a whole, it was difficult not to walk away from that show respecting Mr. Wap even more than I did before. Turns out, he's more than just his smash hit Trap Queen, his performance of which was just one of the many moments of nostalgia I felt during the eponymously-named (did I even use that word correctly?) tour.
Strengths
As I slightly alluded to in my intro, Fetty Wap is a wildly charming individual. His crowd work was some of the best I have ever seen (despite it going on for far too long at points... more on that below). He wasn't afraid to make fun of himself or members of the crowd, going off on multiple tangents throughout the show that were both hilarious, engaging, and captivating. Before playing White Roses, a song off his new album Zavier (which, if you haven't listened, DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND PRESS PLAY), Mr. Wap explained the back story behind the song itself. (the following quote is from what I remember, it is not an exact quote, but captures the spirit of his point).
"Y'all, I was in the hole for 7 months while I was in prison. If you don't know what that means, it means solitary confinement. That shit was corny as hell yo. CORNY!"
(pause as the audience bursts into laughter and applause).
"But I been on the straight and narrow y'all. But this next song called White Roses, I came up with because while I was in solitary there was a radio station that only played one song, and the beat of this song is partially inspired by that one song I heard while in solitary. I don't even know if that shit was real but anyway, here is White Roses".
He did these kinds of intros for almost every song, which could have gotten old and boring, but Fetty Wap almost always found a way to keep it light-hearted and engaging.
Speaking of strengths: the man can SING!!! I felt a similar twang of embarrassment when I found out that T-Pain can sing too when he began to sing White Roses; I had just assumed it was all auto-tune! He sounded fantastic live (despite missing a few notes, but that's going to happen occasionally when you go to a live show. I would never dock points from a performance if that happened a few times; it would only be an issue if it was happening the entire show). He showed that not only can he rap with the best, but he can sing with the best too. His hype man, who I believe is Remy Boy, also complimented Fetty's rap flow and vocals well; the two worked well together on stage, making for an entertaining live set.
You could tell at certain points during the show that Fetty Wap was losing steam a bit, but to his credit, he admitted as much to the audience.
"Yo, I won't lie to you, this shit was way easier when I was skinny and before I went to prison. God damn, it's hard y'all".
It was a moment that, while hysterical, also felt honest and grounded. Touring is HARD, and I appreciate that Fetty Wap confessed as much to the audience; it made setting expectations a little easier.
Weaknesses
I just want to start off this section by saying that I would absolutely see Fetty Wap again if given the chance. He was engaging, hilarious, and reminded everyone why Trap Queen and 679 were such smash hits. That being said, I kept thinking of this exact tweet during the show. I'll explain more after I get through some of the "weaknesses".
For starters: occasionally, Fetty's tangents went on for way too long. I found myself starting to lose focus at times, which is never a good thing at a live show. You can lose your audience quickly and it's even harder to get the attention back once it's lost, so it's important to keep things moving efficiently. Whenever Fetty was talking directly to a handful of audience members, whether it was poking fun at them or himself, it always started off strong, but then sometimes veered into him mumbling or struggling to find what to say next, or how to transition into the next song. At the end of the day, I paid money to see a concert, not a standup routine (but, I would be remiss to not mention how I would absolutely pay money to see Fetty Wap stand on stage and joke around with the audience for 2 hours; that's just not what my $66 went to for this event).
There was practically no stage setup to speak of as well. With most rap shows like this, I don't expect elaborate stage setups, lighting effects, or other props. But frankly, the show got pretty boring visually at times. A couple of laser lights here, some steam effects there, a tiny little projection screen above the DJ booth.... and that was it. Trap Queen, 679, and Jimmy Choo are way too fun of songs to NOT do something interesting with lighting or stage effects. Just having Fetty Wap on stage with his hype man singing these songs with nothing but a single projection screen showing random women dancing is not enough, especially when you have other artists with smaller budgets like Chance the Rapper for his 2025 Star Line tour (I'm assuming smaller because tickets were dirt cheap at face value compared to Mr. Wap's ticket prices), who made fantastic work of lighting and projection-screen effects. It's frustrating to spend a good chunk of change on a show at a venue like MGM, where standards are naturally going to be higher since MGM is a much larger venue then, say, Paradise Rock Club. I go to MGM expecting a PERFORMANCE of some sort, whereas stage setup and effects are going to be much less of a priority if attending something at Paradise Rock Club (900 person capacity) or even Sinclair (500 person capacity); MGM gives artists the ability to do more with their shows, and Mr. Wap unfortunately did not take advantage of that.
As I mentioned earlier, Fetty Wap (to his own confession) admitted that performing has become much harder compared to before prison. While I greatly appreciated that confession, it still does not take away from the fact that Fetty spent a majority of the show strolling around on stage, almost like a SIM on auto-pilot. It was easy to tell he was having a great time on stage working the crowd and showing off his vocals, but there were also many times where he had to rely on backing vocals and the crowd to take over for him. I can excuse pop shows for doing this because most of the time, the people that are performing (usually women) are doing insane dance moves and working their asses off; that was not the case here. My mind in this specific instance kept going back to that tweet I linked above. What if it were a woman on stage doing seemingly the bare minimum? Would I be more frustrated because expectations for female performers are higher? I saw Ice Spice back in 2024 and let me tell y'all, she absolutely crushed it. She was up on that stage dancing her ass off, jumping around, and rapping WITHOUT ANY BACKING VOCALS. I could hear her voice as clear as a cloudless day. I found myself comparing this show to Ice Spice's a few times, and while Ice Spice has the benefit of being younger, it's proof that you can still give a show your all, physically, and not have to rely as much on backing vocals.
The last thing I want to mention is something I've noticed at most smaller-sized rap shows; there are always a bunch of random people milling around by the DJ booth. While I always find it a bit odd and funny, it was also a little distracting. But I'm not really counting this as a "weakness" because this seems to happen frequently and is not a show-specific critique.
Final Thoughts
Fetty Wap is charming, hilarious, and grounded, and his personality shone through during his show. I walked away respecting him even more than I did going in, which is always a huge plus. His performance of White Roses, specifically, was so astounding that I went home and immediately listened to his "new" album Zavier (it came out in March 2026), which is now in regular rotation for me. The best concerts are the ones where you leave respecting an artist and their body of work even more than you did before entering. That being said, I found myself a bit frustrated that the stage setup seemed to be incredibly minimal/practically nonexistent, and with how expensive tickets were for this show, I expected more. I kept finding myself comparing this performance to Ice Spice's, who clearly gave it her all and then some; had Fetty Wap done something more interesting on stage, visually, I would have absolutely given this show a higher score. I'm giving this a 3.25 out of 5.
