Helicopters, riot shields, mosh Pits & megaphones; not many artists can put together a show quite like A$AP Rocky. The Harlem rapper’s “DON’T BE DUMB” (DBD) tour took over CFG Bank Arena this past week for one of the wildest shows I’ve gotten the chance to experience. Touring in support of his highly anticipated album of the same name, from earlier this year, Pretty Flacko tore down the stage at CFG Bank for nearly two full hours.
After an extended opening delay (when I’m fairly sure he was in the back watching his New York Knicks in the NBA Finals), the arena went dark on June 8 and started to fill with smoke as helicopter sounds and walkie-talkie chatter began going off. A spotlight on the helicopter overhead raced around the room like a police chase was going on; it would stop on random Shirt Heads (Rocky’s personal hype squad) hidden in the crowd, just as the “SWAT team” would come in and snatch them out of the audience.
Suddenly, the light shone down onto the GA floor as a siren went off. The Shirt Heads and SWAT both rushed in from the back of the room, creating a circle around the big white breakdance square in the middle of the floor with the Don’t Be Dumb logo on it as the acapella intro to “Grim Freestyle” started to play. Security & SWAT pushed the circle open on one side, and A$AP Rocky came sprinting into the middle as the beat dropped and pyro shot off. The circle instantly collapsed into a mosh pit led by the Shirt Heads, with SWAT and their riot shields keeping the crazed kids off of Rocky as he performed. He shouted out B-More and welcomed everyone out before performing “Trunks” while still in the pit. The Shirt Heads lifted him in the air over their heads for the entire performance of “HIGHJACK.” Flacko and the SWAT guys disappeared from the floor as an unreleased video for the new album’s intro track “ORDER OF PROTECTION” started to play on the screens on stage.
The screens opened up in the middle as the video ended, and out came Rocky, hanging from the side of another helicopter as it lifted into the air out over the crowd, as the SWAT team marched out on stage in 2 lines. They lead the crowd as they swung towels in the air and danced, Petey Pablo style, while he performed “HELICOPTER” and red lasers shot off all around the room. The song ended, and Rocky stood tall, looking out over the crowd for a moment with his arms folded as they screamed and cheered for him before waving for them to get louder and louder. “Baltimore! What the fuck is up?!,” he shouted into his megaphone-mic before giving his final warning, “This next song is kinda crazy…so if you’re a bitch get out of the mosh pit” as he went into “STOLE YA FLOW.” Another video played on the screens for the bonus track from DBD “SWAT TEAM,” as the helicopter lowered onto the stage and he dismounted. Rocky led the room in a “Gang!” chant, leading into the classic “A$AP Forever” and following it up with my favorite track from DBD, “STOP SNITCHING,” and then “PLAYA.”
A girl threw her phone onto the stage at the end of the song, and Rocky joked with her that if he took her phone, he’d lose it before handing it back to her, along with the sweaty custom AWGE hoodie he’d just taken off. He yelled out, “It’s been 8 fucking years, B-More, did you miss me?” causing the room to roar in response. Next performed “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n),” a track named after his son, and the album’s lead single, that sent the room into a frenzy as flames shot off on stage, a massive mosh pit circled up in the center of the floor, and the bleachers bounced up and down. The Shirt Heads did their special Voltron-esque helicopter dance on the breakdance square, under the spotlight as Rocky asked for more and more mosh pits before getting into the more Punk parts of the album. Flacko yelled out, “Mosh pit music only!” as “STFU” started to play and colorful fireballs shot up in the air on stage. He broke out into his Russian squat dance from the music video as he performed “PUNK ROCKY,” then started a clap, calming things down momentarily with “Sundress,” but somehow the pits kept moshing.
He talked to the crowd for a while, asking them to pray for his Knicks because they were losing in the fourth quarter and giving us a score update. He said he didn’t know why, but the energy that night was so incredible that he hadn’t been that happy on stage in years and thanked everyone. He got back to rapping with another one of my favorites from a few years ago, the Skepta feature, “Praise the Lord,” before asking for a moment of silence for A$AP Yams. Rocky told a story about how Yams used to hate when he would make psychedelic/alternative-sounding music, but before he died, he’d tripped out on mushrooms and heard “L$D” for the first time and loved it. He started a “Yams” chant as A$AP Twelvyy ran out, and they performed the A$AP Mob record honoring Yams, “Yamborgini High.”
Watch A$AP Rocky’s insane music video “Tailor Swif” on YouTube:
For some reason, the same girl threw her phone onto the stage once again while Rocky was talking to the crowd and catching his breath. Like the new dad that he is, Flacko told her that if she did it again, it was gone, and she was too old to be throwing phones. But he did strike a deal with her that if she stopped, then she could have his sweatshirt, and she quickly agreed. He took the sweat-drenched hoodie off and tossed it to her, telling her he loved her before getting back into the show. Twelvyy stuck around for “Hella Hoes,” before Rocky’s new artists Tommy Revenge & Thoto joined them on stage for a new song called “American Sabotage,” the Ty Dolla $ign feature, “DECEMBER 31ST,” and “GEMSTONES ITZ THA GR1M,” just some of the numerous records that were released or leaked in the long eight-year wait since Rocky’s last album “Testing,” that somehow did not make it on to DBD. The Shirt Heads kept the crowd moving all night long, starting mosh pits and dancing, swinging shirts around, and taking pictures with people.
For the last part of the show, Flacko dug way back into his discography, performing records like “Purple Swag,” “Pe$o,” “LVL,” and “Wassup,” all from his breakout 2011 mixtape “Live. Love. A$AP” that dropped me right back in my college dorm room. Keeping things chronological, Rocky went into his debut album “Long Live A$AP” next, performing “Goldie.” He shouted out to the ladies and let them know that he’s got a wife but respectfully appreciates all the breasts being flashed at him in the crowd. He giggled and got a drink of water before tossing the open bottle into the crowd as the mega-hit collaboration “Fuckin Problems” started to play. Rocky had to follow that up with “Fashion Killa,” the 2013 record, where he pretty much predicted the future with his wife Rihanna before they were even an item. He jumped to his sophomore project from here with the Rod Stewart feature “Everyday” and “Jukebox Joints” before disappearing off stage as another video played.
Check out A$AP Rocky’s highly anticipated fourth album “DON’T BE DUMB” on Spotify:
The SWAT team marched back out, as Rocky came up from under the stage on a pillar that raised him up at least ten feet over the helmets of the SWAT guys. The colorful fireballs began shooting off on stage behind them as he performed the slow jam of DBD “STAY HERE 4 LIFE” featuring the DMV’s own Brent Fayiaz. He followed it up with Yams’ favorite record, “L$D,” while psychedelic flowers bloomed on the screens and pyro shot off below him. Rocky closed the night out with one of his most personal old records, “Demons,” before thanking everyone for coming out and rocking with him for so many years. He told everyone to pull their lighters out for one last song and gave Baltimore his list of rules:
- Don’t drink and drive
- Don’t have unprotected sex
- Don’t be racist
- AND DON’T BE FUCKING DUMB
He performed the album’s title track, “DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY,” to finish the night off as the pillar lowered back down underneath the stage and SWAT marched off. One final video played on the screens as the lights came up, with movie credits naming everyone backstage who made the show happen, and that helped him put the tour together
A$AP Rocky’s DON’T BE DUMB Tour wraps up early next month in New Jersey before heading to Europe in August. Catch it while you can! I promise that if you are an A$AP fan like I am, it’s a concert you will never forget. Grab your tickets here.
Below are some more photos from A$AP Rocky’s show at CFG Bank Arena on June 8, 2026. All photos copyright and courtesy of AJ Waugh (wauffleznotwaffles.com).
