Isaiah Rashad
Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden
Saturaday, August 22nd 2026
by Romy Beckman
The allure of going to concerts lies in the opportunity for fans to be a part of the music—to engage directly with the performer and participate in their artistic expression. On Saturday night, Isaiah Rashad demonstrated just how beautiful that experience can be by constructing an intricate world around his music and inviting the audience inside it. While Madison Square Garden’s Infosys Theater is undoubtedly one of the best venues in New York to watch a concert, the stage design, intricate short-film interstitials between songs, and Isaiah Rashad’s performance itself felt worthy of one of the theaters just a few blocks over on Broadway.
Before taking the stage, Rashad appeared on screen in a blood-stained white tee, limping through a picturesque field—our first glimpse into the cinematic world of IT’S BEEN AWFUL. Moments later, he made his grand entrance in the same blood-stained shirt, walking through the same field. The stage itself built on this narrative: a “CHATTANOOGA CITY LIMITS” road sign sat behind two lawn chairs, a cooler, various plants, and a clothesline with four shirts hanging. Between songs, short-film interstitials created a story that made each song feel connected and emotionally grounded. At times, it felt more like a TDE musical than a typical concert. While he was performing, the screen behind him displayed clips from music videos and other dynamic visuals that emphasized key moments in each song, even setting the entire stage on fire with a combination of smoke and red lights when he played songs off of The House Is Burning.
Although the Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip tour follows the release of his most recent album, IT’S BEEN AWFUL, Isaiah Rashad struck a perfect balance between performing new material and fan favorites from earlier projects going all the way back to 2014. Fans were jumping throughout the show and even created full-on mosh pits for the more lively tracks like ‘RIP Young’ and ‘SAME SH!T’. Rashad’s versatility was on full display when he followed ‘SAME SH!T’ with ‘HAPPY HOUR’. A crowd that was moshing just a few minutes ago suddenly came together, lighters waving and eyes watery, all singing along over soft piano and drums.
A few rows in front of me and a couple of seats to my right, I watched a man experience what appeared to be the best night of his life. Clearly a massive fan, he boisterously shouted every word to every song. But despite his exuberant expression of joy, he also seemed to find solace in some of Rashad’s more introspective tunes. And, like many fans in the crowd—myself included—he had a visible emotional response to hearing the first note of ‘Heavenly Father’, the breakout hit from Isaiah Rashad’s 2014 Cilvia Demo. When I first listened to ‘Heavenly Father’, Barack Obama was president and the ALS ice bucket challenge was a brand new phenomenon. Twelve years later, the world is a very different place, yet one thing hasn’t changed: Isaiah Rashad is still putting out bangers. Hearing what was one of my favorite new songs when I was in middle school performed in this context was a beautiful full-circle experience for me. And if that wasn’t enough, he also played some of my favorite new songs from when I was in high school, some of my favorite new songs from when I was in college, and some of my favorite new songs of 2026.
Isaiah Rashad’s versatility and consistency over the past decade have been incredible, yet what I felt truly set this concert apart from the many hip-hop/R&B concerts I have attended was not just his music, but the way he engaged with his audience. In many ways, this concert felt like a love letter to his fans. For all the scale and grandeur of the production, Rashad managed to interact directly with audience members from the front row to the back in a way that felt genuine and loving. About halfway through his set, he hopped off stage and into the photo pit where he walked along the front row, singing and rapping the lyrics to ‘Wat U Sed’ alongside his most passionate supporters.
After polished music videos and short films dominated the screen for most of the concert, the fans themselves were now shown on screen singing alongside Isaiah Rashad. In that moment, we as an audience went from being passive observers of this beautiful and thoughtfully constructed world of Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip to suddenly inhabiting that world and seeing ourselves as part of the story.
A few songs later, a series of disposable film photos of Rashad, his friends, and fans taken throughout the tour played as a slideshow behind him as he performed. Afterward, he took a moment to thank the crowd for helping his decade-old debut album earn gold certification just last year: “I just want to say thank you, The Sun’s Tirade just went gold. You guys did that, not me.”
The end of the show perfectly encapsulated everything that made it so special. After nearly two hours of music, Rashad walked off stage with a simple yet heartfelt, “Love you guys, if you ever need anything just give me a call.” Not content with this being the end, fans immediately erupted into “ONE MORE SONG!” chants, which persisted for over a minute. Isaiah Rashad and his production team used these chants as a transition into his final act—the screen suddenly flashing visuals for his encore song in rhythm with the chant. To my surprise, not only did he come back out to perform an encore, but he also performed an additional three songs, including ‘RIP Young’, a fan favorite that initiated the aforementioned mosh pits as a final hurrah.
But that would not turn out to be the final, final hurrah. Just seconds after Isaiah Rashad exited the stage for the second time, he suddenly reappeared in the middle of the crowd, walking through the aisle and hugging fans as he made his way toward the exit. This went on for several minutes as he walked all the way through the standing section and into the seated area, not remotely bothered by the swarms of fans rushing over for an opportunity to give him a hug. In fact, he appeared to be overjoyed by the influx of support and love that was being poured on him. Once he finally made it through the crowd and out of the theatre, he parked himself at the merch booth where he stayed chatting with his fans and signing albums and t-shirts long after the show had ended.
I have known for over a decade what an incredibly talented and versatile artist Isaiah Rashad is, but it wasn’t until last Saturday that I learned he is also one of the greatest performers in the world. His music alone is enough to speak for itself, but what really made this show special was the intricate production design and the way he engaged the audience and made us a part of the music.
Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip continues through the end of September and will make 22 additional stops across the US and Canada. https://itsbeenawful.com/
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