Post Malone @ Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, TX

Words and photos by Scott Rowe

This one's been a long time coming for MTC MAG. I first covered Posty, aka Post Malone aka Austin Richard Post, back in 2018 at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, TX. Posty was sporting more hair and less tattoos at that show, touring off his then latest release, Beerbongs & Bentleys. The show was a split of his first two albums, Stoney and the aforementioned Beerbongs, playing a set of 15 songs in what seemed like a brief headlining gig. Fast forward four years and Post is still sporting a Power Trip shirt and still selling out arenas around the world. He performed a sold out show at Dallas's American Airlines Center just a week earlier during his Twelve Carat Tour, a tour with the same namesake as his latest release, Twelve Carat Toothache. So the show at Dickies was a welcome sight, as he's had yet to have a solo gig in DFW since the 2018 show at Toyota and not including his Posty Fest appearances at Dos Equis Pavilion and Jerry World aka AT&T Stadium.

While in 2018, Post was starting to hit his stride and establish himself as a true star, but his live shows were something to be desired. Not much in terms of production, a fairly short set, and his vocals weren't the cleanest. But this Twelve Carat set was a polished gem, a culmination of years of touring and growing as an artist, as well as a person. When I say person, you can tell Post makes every effort to give it his all for each and every person in the crowd, staying humble as he towers over thousands of people every night. But he's grown into one of the biggest artists in the world and his set proves that, as he almost seems like a constant barrage of hit after hit.

The show started with a slow burn as he opened with Twelve Carat's opening song, "Reputation", an emotional rollercoaster that segued into a couple of hits in "Wow" and  "I Like You (A Happier Song)", his latest hit and collaboration with Doja Cat. Posty seems to be having so much fun onstage, showcased in his ridiculously awesome dance moves at the end of "I Like You". Post spends his time on stage roaming three runways, similar to the shape of a trident, reaching all sides of the arena as he's treating them to other hits such as "Better Now", "Psycho", and "Candy Paint". He then takes the show down a few notches, as he sets himself up with a stool and a guitar to perform a few songs. He even makes sure to mention that this is the slow part of the show, so if the crowd needs a drink or bathroom break, now's the time.

Performing "Stay" and "Go Flex" acoustically gives Post a bit more range than critics give him and he builds on it as he starts off an acoustic version of "Circles" before going full-blown production and creating an arena-sized singalong. While every part of his catalog was represented in the set, the bulk came from Twelve Carat, as he performed nine of the album's 14 songs, which accounted for nine of the set's 23 songs. The 100-minute performance was a ton of fun, even during the slower sections, because Post makes up for those ten-fold with renditions of "Congratulations", "Sunflower", and the set-ending "White Iverson". So was the show worth the wait? Absolutely. Even with the success of the Posty Fests around DFW, I hope he continues to reward his old stomping grounds with solo concerts for a bit more intimate performance, instead of the stadium-sized festival setting of AT&T. He's on top of the game  and his shows now match not only his popularity but also his body of work. It was leaps and bounds better than his 2018 performance and showcases a great progression for an artist focused on not only entertaining his fans but connecting with them in every way possible.

Photos of the show are below:

enjoy.