On September 4, Kid Cudi (Scott Mescudi) performed in Miami for the first time since his stage walk-off at the Rolling Loud music festival on July 24, 2022. He was the headliner of the festival’s first night, after replacing Kanye “Ye” West who backed out only five days prior.

At Rolling Loud Miami, Cudi left the stage only six songs into his set, after a fan threw an emergency water pouch onto the stage, hitting his face. He threatened to leave if anything else was thrown towards him and walked off shortly after when another water pouch landed beside him, leaving thousands of fans disappointed.

Currently, Cudi is on his “To The Moon World Tour”. There are 27 shows, Miami being the 12th stop. This is his first tour in five years, his previous one being the “Passion, Pain, & Demon Slayin Tour” which took place in the fall of 2017. This tour has been in the works since 2021, following the release of his 7th studio album “The Man on the Moon III: The Chosen” (2020). After this tour’s announcement in June, Cudi released his greatest hits album, “The Boy Who Flew to the Moon, Vol. 1” and re-released his debut mixtape “A Kid Named Cudi”, both which contain a lot of music he is performing on this tour. This is also Kid Cudi’s first arena tour.

Traveling with him and performing as his openers are male rappers Strick and Denzel Curry, and also female hip-hop artist, 070 Shake. All three of these artists have collaborated with Cudi on music in the past. 

His setlist was very similar to that of which he played at Rolling Loud, opening with “Down & Out”, then continuing to “Tequila Shots” and “She Knows This”. It can be assumed that the rest of the music he played at the concert was planned to be performed at the festival as well. Fan favorites such as “Pursuit of Happiness”, “Mr. Rager”, and “Man on the Moon” were performed.

A psychedelic theme was chosen for the visuals, like many of Cudi’s shows in the past. This reflects his heavy use of drugs that affects his mental state and influences the music that he creates. There was constant vibrant lazer strobing, accompanied with smoke and hallucinatory images for the audience to enjoy during their trip to the moon.

Cudi only made one reference to his walk off during his performance, saying, “Y’all ready? Don’t f*** around, don’t f*** around!” This gestured a mixed response of cheering and guilty giggles from the audience. The energy from the crowd showed Miami’s eagerness for the “Moon Man’s” return.