ian at La Cigale, Paris

By Evelyn Donnelly

 
 

On a dark atmospheric Tuesday night in Paris, my friends and I excitedly hurried out of the Pigalle metro station. We walked through the warmly lit streets to the small music venue La Cigale, where young American rapper ian was soon to be performing. It was November 11th, the weather not terribly chilly, and our nervousness about the press of the sweaty crowds warmed our hearts. However, on arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to find that every spot in the venue was optimal for viewing and the crowd was relatively small. 

I was surprised to find such a small crowd, considering ian’s popularity online and the environment typical of rap concerts. The Gap Year Tour was ian’s first Europe/UK tour, and because he is kind of an underground rapper from America, I think he just doesn’t have too many European fans. Despite this, the crowd was youthfully energetic in anticipation. The fans were predominantly young and male, which usually creates a pretty aggressive environment, but having more room allowed us to just enjoy the music and not worry about guys pushing us. 

In our freedom, we enjoyed the opening set from ian’s producer sxprano. A seventeen year old kid from Maryland, sxprano’s most well-known work appears on ian’s tracks, but he has also produced for some lesser-known underground rappers, such as che, swapa, and Yung Fazo. He played popular rap songs by artists like Playboi Carti, Esdeekid, and Ken Carson, which brought back the hectic memory of Ken’s concert last year. The kids in the audience ran, moshed, and yelled, jumping in sync with the beat and moving as one while my friends and I looked on excitedly from the back. We were shocked with how well we could see the stage from our position, but we ran into the middle of the crowd anyway to be closer to the energy.

sxprano succeeded in bringing the energy up just in time for ian’s entrance. To chants of “IAN!!” from the crowd, ian ran out in a haze of flashing white lights and vocal snippets of a commentator criticizing him, launching into ‘AirBnB’ from his 2024 freshman album Valedictorian. He rapped songs from Goodbye Horses (2024) and brand new album 2005 (2025). He also performed singles like his viral ‘Oh Ok (xxl freestyle)’, ‘Shut it Down’, which was produced by hyperpop artist 2hollis, and ‘End Up Gone,’ which he performed first as a piano accompanied acoustic version. ian always managed to keep the energy and spirits high, and is an extremely charming performer. When two boys jumped on the stage, he let them stay on and join in the excitement. In between songs he would make sure people were having a good time, raising his arms and rousing cheers from the crowd. At one point he had all the girls scream at once, and then all the guys afterward. When he performed he would reach out to the fans at the front, and I watched as their hands surged up excitedly to grasp him. People chanted his lyrics word for word, and I could hear American accents intertwining with French ones. 

He finished the show by performing ‘Magic Johnson’ twice and ‘3.5’ three times, building the energy each time until our voices were coarse from rapping along. He had built suspense throughout the show, leaving his most popular and hype songs for last, making for a great finale. ian knows his audience and he knows how to make them happy. A lot of rappers try to seem aloof and too cool, but part of ian’s appeal is that he cares about his fans. I am not sure if the experience would be the same if I saw him in New York because of his much larger fanbase there, but the energy of the crowd, the freedom we had to move, and ian’s charm made it such a fun show to go to. 

Setlist: 

  1. AirBnB

  2. Never Stop

  3. Chauncey

  4. Figure it Out

  5. Aw Shit

  6. Oh Ok (xxl freestyle)

  7. Sh*t Sad

  8. You Told Me 

  9. I Ain’t Coming Back

  10. Shut it Down 

  11. Sole Provider

  12. End Up Gone (piano version)

  13. End Up Gone

  14. Hate Me 

  15. Magic Johnson (played x2)

16. 3.5 (played x3)