Hip-hop and R&B is still the most popular music genre in America. But there’s been anxiety from some genre followers about one thing: why haven’t there been many undisputed, arena-packing, new hip-hop superstars the last couple of years?
Don Toliver would dispute that question. After his January album “Octane” debuted at the top of the Billboard 200, the Houston rapper and singer would no doubt argue he is one.
At the Milwaukee stop of his “Octane Tour” at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater June 19, for the second night of Summerfest 2026, Toliver largely had me convinced – until, perhaps, near the very end.
Since the last time in town 2023 opening for Future at Fiserv Forum, Toliver has greatly enhanced his live show chops, clearly studying and more closely emulating the heart-racing showmanship of Travis Scott, the founder of the label Toliver’s signed to, Cactus Jack Records.
For his Summerfest entrance to “E85,” Toliver coolly came out dressed in all-white, his face concealed in a mask, before he ripped it off and jumped and danced along with the teen-and-twenty-something-heavy crowd that packed the place (even though ticket sales were looking a little slow last month).
A few songs later, he was doing stretching exercises, a smart tactic given the full-body workout he brought to “Octane” single “ATM” a moment later. But even when the banger started to cool down and get quieter toward the end with some pretty melodies, Toliver was still joyously and energetically grooving around the stage. He couldn’t help himself from giving his all, and of course that’s something anyone would want in a hip-hop superstar.
That’s something that helped to make Travis Scott a hot live act, along with immersive production, which Toliver also had on hand. He performed on a set surrounded by trees, mysteriously lit to reflect the forest in “E.T.” Flames were constantly firing, along with a barrage of lasers, strobes, smoke blasts, and the occasional ear-rattling firework explosion.
But Scott’s main live show offering has been energy, not emotion. At a time when fans crave adrenaline-pumping escape, but also emotional catharsis, Toliver showed at Summerfest he offers both.
As he sang, and frequently as he rapped, his voice was doused in syrupy Autotune. But when the effect was occasionally lifted – like for his rough and rowdy delivery for “Gemstone” – Toliver’s voice cut like a knife.
And that effect had a way of heightening his emotional state on stage, and compensating for some less inspired lyrics. In terms of emotional payoff, Toliver’s “Cardigan” has nothing on Taylor Swift’s “Cardigan,” and yet hearing him sing “Don’t stick around, you should save yourself” in that distorted voice, the pain practically glowing – not too dissimilar to Bon Iver’s approach to vocal manipulation earlier in his career – it was impossible not to get in your feels.
Heightened emotion also emerged for “Secondhand,” his sweet and sorrowful Afrobeat-influenced “Octane” standout, where straightforward lines like “You’re all I ever wanted” felt much more resonant from Toliver’s filtered live vocal delivery.
So it’s settled then, Toliver is in fact a new hip-hop superstar. Toliver’s energetic performance, and even more energetic reception, made it seem so.
But near the end of the set, Toliver seemed to run out of steam. He let fans and his three backing musicians do much of the heavy lifting for “After Party,” a song where he arguably should have accelerated the energy. “E85” made a return appearance, but Toliver just didn’t have the same level of energy he unleashed at the start, so it felt like a letdown.
And then, for one of the most puzzling endings I’ve seen at a concert recently, after Toliver left the stage, one of his musicians said they would “bring it home” and cued up a recording of Toliver’s “Sweet Home.” Except Toliver was out of sight for the whole song. After it ended, the house lights went up. Making matters more underwhelming, the video screens inadvertently flashed to a production person’s Windows desktop screen.
No doubt a lot of fans that were there would argue what Toliver offered before that unceremonious end was enough.
But the thing is, if you’re truly going to be an undisputed superstar, you’ve got to leave the fans craving more.
SahBabii, Che, SoFayGo, Lelo and Chase B open
Not one, not two, but five acts opened for Don Toliver’s Summerfest show June 19 – or “Octanefest,” as opener number one Chase B proclaimed it. The DJ quickly got the crowd going playing hits from Baby Keem, the late Juice WRLD and of course Travis Scott, before honoring his friend, tremendously talented producer Tay Keith, who died June 18, by playing one of his best-known works, Scott’s seismic smash “Sicko Mode.”
The night’s first rapper, Lelo, has been getting some buzz out of Detroit, but there’s not much showmanship yet based on his Summerfest set, and rapping along to prerecorded vocals didn’t help matters. The house music-inspired “Get Geeked” was still fun live though, showing Lelo’s got musical versatility, and potential.
Once rage rapper Che showed up it really started to feel like a show. Granted Che barely rapped – he mostly screamed and jumped and spun around. But combined with strobes and the blaring sound of songs like “Million Dollar Mansion” and “Dior Leopard” – imagine hyperpop anarchy smothered in blown-out bass – the 19-year-old Atlanta artist definitely created a vibe (that, looking over the crowd, outlasted an enthusiastic welcome before his 20 minutes were up).
If you consider imitation as the highest form of flattery, it makes sense that Grand Rapids native SoFayGo signed with Scott’s Cactus Jack Records, considering his sound is so indebted to what Scott’s been doing for a decade. But as an energetic opener for a show that doubled as a salute to Cactus Jack, SoFayGo’s lack of distinction, looking over a content Summerfest crowd, proved to be an asset.
As quickly as hip-hop changes, a decade is like an eternity, and that’s about how long it’s been since Chicago-born, Atlanta-raised SahBabii broke out with his platinum-certified single “Pull Up Wit Ah Stick.” He had nothing that commercially successful for years, but he stuck around, continued to release more music, ended up in the Cactus Jack orbit, and on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time on Toliver’s “K9.” He also scored the prime opening slot for Toliver’s tour, playing for and winning over a large crowd at Summerfest, to give him some momentum as his music career enters its second decade.
Contact Piet Levy at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Don Toliver’s high ‘Octane’ Summerfest show in Milwaukee ran out of gas
Reporting by Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Piet Levy, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
