A large crowd of fans gathered at the Neal Blaisdell Center early January, in anticipation of seeing Chance the Rapper perform. Chance, known for his rap, jazz and Christian hip hop, was expected to be one of the biggest shows of the year for Hawaii, which has seen a recent dry spell in big-name artists performing at island venues.

“I had a really fun time at the concert,” Sacred Hearts Academy junior Jocelyn Chen said. “The energy was great, and everyone was into the music.”

Chen was among more than 8,000 fans in attendance; many students from the Academy also went to his concert. While she enjoyed her time there, Chen said the only disappointment was the duration of the concert itself–a sentiment echoed by other Chance fans.

“I just hoped that the concert would be longer,” she said.  

The concert was about an hour and a half long.

“We came early, right when the doors opened at 8 p.m.,” said senior Hailey Mopas. “We paid $80 for a ticket, and he didn’t end up coming out till 9:30 p.m.”

Senior Julina Reyes compared his concert to Russ’ Hawaii concert in December. Russ is another well-known hip hop artist.

“(Chance’s concert) wasn’t as lit as Russ’ concert,” she said. “I was disappointed because I felt like the crowd itself didn’t know his music as well.”

In 2016, Chance dropped the surprise mixtape “Coloring Book,” which debuted at number eight on the Top 200 Billboard Albums chart. The mixtape featured guest appearances from Kanye West, Justin Bieber and Future.

The concert started off with guest DJ Esta, who played music that brought the crowd to life. His performance included a variety of popular songs, while putting his own twist into the music. The crowd sang and dance to his tunes.

Then as soon as the lights dimmed, the crowd cheered for Chance’s debut. Mid-way through his first song, and the arena was filled with energy, getting people to their feet, singing along and screaming.