REVIEW & Gallery: The Kid LAROI Stops By San Francisco for his Perfect World Tour
REVIEW
REVIEW
☆ BY ELIJAH CLOWER ☆
The KID LAROI WAS THE FIRST ARTIST I EVER PHOTOGRAPHED AND POSTED - a random decision at Poptopia that quietly changed the direction of my life. In my own head, our careers have been running parallel ever since. I shot his first headline tour from the front barricade as my concert photography career was still finding its footing, and somewhere in the back of my mind I always knew getting official coverage of his show would eventually close a loop I didn't even know I'd opened. That moment finally arrived with the A Perfect World Tour, and it felt exactly the way full circle moments are supposed to feel.
I did not catch WiztheMC, but I was there for Tommy Richman, who I'm a big fan of in his own right. His 2024 smash "Million Dollar Baby" was my most-listened song that entire year, and his latest album Coyote is a strong front-to-back listen. That said, out of the 11 tracks, only 5 didn't make it onto my personal repeat rotation, which is a pretty strong ratio as far as albums go. What makes Tommy interesting is how he channels an old school sound but shapes it into something that feels entirely modern and distinctly his own. I'd already caught him on his first headline tour last year, so this was a different context, shorter set, different energy, but his style translates well regardless of the stage size.
Then came LAROI. The A Perfect World Tour is built around his third album Before I Forget, an introspective record that debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 ; and you could feel that maturity come through in how he carried himself all night. He opened the set with "ME + YOU" into "PRIVATE" before shifting into "BABY I'M BACK" and the title track "A PERFECT WORLD" and from those first notes it was clear this was a different version of LAROI than I'd documented in earlier years. More confident, more swagger, more command of the room. He's grown into himself as a performer in a way that's genuinely exciting to watch.
The stage design was cool, a large circular platform anchored center stage, backed by a massive video screen that acted as both backdrop and storytelling device. The setup carried clear echoes of Justin Bieber's Coachella production, the same stage where LAROI made a surprise appearance to join Bieber and perform their smash hit "Stay" together. The SF show, however, did not receive the full video screen setup that other markets got, which was a noticeable step down from what the production is clearly capable of. It's one of those decisions you can't fully explain from the outside, but when you know what the show is designed to look like, the absence lands differently. The music held up regardless, but I do wish the full vision could have been seen. .
