Ken Carson XPERIMENTING Tour Chicago 8/26/26

Ken Carson began his “xperimenting tour” in Chicago on Wednesday and it continued to show why he is one of the fastest growing and most prominent rising stars in modern rap. 

Around two months prior to the start of his tour, Ken dropped his highly anticipated studio album, “xperiment”. It charted at  No.7 on the Billboard's Top 200 and was generally considered a large success. Following the album's success, the demand for a tour was very high and fans were pleased when Ken announced his 17 stop tour across the U.S. This tour would mark Ken’s fourth solo headline tour and is projected to be his highest selling so far. Ken started his tour in Chicago at the sold out Huntington Bank Pavillion.

The show began with a DJ set from DJ Moon, Ken’s main engineer and close collaborator within Playboi Carti’s, “Opium” record label. DJ Moon played some Opium hits as well as a few Chicago classics to get the crowd engaged and hyped up for the show. At the conclusion of DJ Moon’s set there was a short five minute buffer before the first opening act of the show started, Prettifun. Prettifun is a rapidly growing and prominent rapper in the underground hip-hop scene that made for a great opener for Ken. Prettifun started the performance off with the song “Rollacoasta” off of his recent album, “Pretti Loves U 2”. He followed that with most of his well-known hits such as “Moon and the Stars” and “Light”. Pretti’s 20-minute set brought energy to the venue, getting the crowd excited and on their feet. The final act before Ken’s set was from Xaviersobased. Similar to Prettifun, Xaviersobased has built a strong following in the underground hip-hop community, bringing his own unique style to the scene. Xav delivered a set full of energy, with a mix of new songs and top hits. The most energetic songs were his most popular and highest streamed songs such as “love hate”, “Need Me”, and what seemed to be the highlight of the set, “MANNEQUIN”. Xav closed out the set with “Party At My Place” which is the most popular song off his recent album and features electronic legend Skrillex. 

During the 25-minute gap between the final opening act and Ken’s set, anticipation filled Huntington Bank Pavilion. Fans packed tightly into the general admission pit, with some already requiring assistance from security to be lifted out of the crowd as pushing and excitement intensified. Ken’s set quickly started with the flashing title on the screen, “The Xperiment” and the extended intro of “deaf note” blasted throughout the venue. With perfect timing, Ken emerged on stage right at the climax of the beat drop. Fire blaring behind him on a stage covered in deep smoke, Ken brought an ominous and heavy presence as the crowd absolutely erupted. He followed deaf note with five other songs off of xperiment, all of which were received greatly by the crowd as they jumped and sang along to all of them. Ken then debuted the song “scrape” off of his then unreleased mixtape, “cartunez”. Following that, Ken played a mix of hits off of past projects along with more songs off of xperiment, all of which the crowd loved showing consistent energy on every song.


Ken brought his set to the climax with his most popular songs such as “Me N My Kup”, “SS”, and “Fighting My Demons” and finished it off with four more live debut songs off of cartunez. After 30 songs, Ken’s set ended with chants for an encore which was unfortunately not delivered due to curfew rules. Nonetheless, Ken delivered a performance that kept the crowd engaged from beginning to end. Playing a wide array of hits from his catalog along with new and even unreleased songs, Ken was able to make a very complete setlist that pleased all types of fans. The night for these fans didn’t just end at the show surprisingly. Right after the conclusion of the show Ken’s mixtape cartuenz released on all streaming platforms giving the fans an extra surprise. Ken played five songs off of the project at this show that gave fans a first listen directly prior to the release of the project. 

Ken will continue with 16 more stops across his “xperimenting tour,” performing his new projects to fans across the country. With a packed setlist and a strong reception from the Chicago crowd, Ken made a clear statement with the opening show of what will be his biggest tour yet.