Chance the Rapper seizes his opportunity in first Minnesota arena concert

While more conventional hip-hop stars have struggled over the past year to fill seats or — in the case of the thrice-canceled Lil Wayne — to simply make it to the Twin Cities at all, Chance the Rapper played to a sold-out Xcel Energy Center on Friday night without a proper album or recording contract to his name.

Most of the roughly 15,000 fans who flocked to the St. Paul arena were in their teens or early 20s, though, so they could care less about finding an album by the Chicago rap star in their local record store. What's a record store? Like Drake (who also packed the X last summer), Chance's success has been largely built on digital music-streaming sites such as Apple Music, which reportedly paid the budding music entrepreneur $500,000 just to have his 2016 mixtape "Coloring Book" all to itself for the first two weeks.

Young music fans still know a great live performance when they see it, though. Friday's 90-minute concert was as musically enthralling as it was thematically enlightening. He called his outing the Be Encouraged Tour (emphasis on "courage"), and he stuck to the message, with themes of self-love and bringing hope into the world.

The 24-year-old Chancelor Bennett humorously took the stage riding a minibike, like a low-rent answer to a Judas Priest motorcycle entrance. But then the stage lit up with an arsenal of pyrotechnics seriously worthy of a heavy-metal show, which would continue blowing off throughout the set.

Chance already proved himself a dynamo live act locally at such summer festivals as Rock the Garden and Soundset, but this was his first headlining set in town since First Avenue in 2013, the year he first earned widespread attention with his second mixtape, "Acid Rap." Friday's show carried an electric air of pent-up energy and amped-up showmanship.

Marveling at the sold-out crowd — "This is very special," he said early on — he repeatedly brought up First Ave, claiming, "I've played every room in that building, and every time we left there, the walls were covered in sweat."

Remarkably, Chance had the same backing band with him Friday that he had all along. So it was no surprise the group — billed as Donnie Trumpet & the Social Experiment on their popular 2015 mixtape "Surf" — sounded razor-tight compared to the thrown-together live bands that typically back rappers. With a quartet of backup singers adding to their oomph, they raised songs like "All We Got" and "Ultralight Beam" to new heights, the latter actually delivered from up on high as Chance rode on a raised platform high above the crowd.

The sharpest difference between this show and earlier appearances was the way Chance's personal life has been heightened, and his music reflects that. He got religious in "How Great," put down old habits in "Same Drugs" and pronounced love for his daughter in "Blessings." On Friday, he also opened up about losing an aunt to breast cancer this past week.

"She was a warrior — not just a warrior against cancer, but a warrior in God's army," he said, solemnly hushing the crowd and declaring, "I'm trying to get to heaven, too."

The quiet didn't last long, though, as he delivered truly enraptured, Holy-Spirited versions of "How Great" and "Summer Friends." Forget about it being an unconventional rap concert; at that point, it was a different kind of church service.

See a photo gallery from the concert at startribune.com.

Chris Riemenschneider • 612-673-4658 @ChrisRstrib