Review and Photography by Abbey Arrowood
Feng, a Croydon-born 20-year-old underground UK rapper, made his way to The Loft as the fifth-to-last stop on the US leg of his Weekend Rockstar tour this summer on June 3rd, 2026. Feng has released dozens of singles and two albums thus far in his young career. His most recent album, Weekend Rockstar, released February 13th, consists of 13 songs and is 29 minutes long. A year prior, he released What The Feng, a 10-song, 16-minute album that raised him to fame.
Feng’s virality produced what could be described as a very “online” fanbase, one that has caught on to the recent wave of UK underground rap. Through TikTok and Instagram reel audios, his music was picked up by eager younger audiences, which, unsurprisingly, made up this show’s attendees. On this particular day, the boy-girl ratio was about 3:1, but other Weekend Rockstar tour reviews note that the gender split is more evenly matched. The energy in the room was electric from beginning to end. There was some (expected) pushing to get to the front, and there were sporadic white flashes in the crowd as photos were taken. There were also a few parents looming around the bathroom area, presumably there for safety reasons or to be the ride home. At around 3:00 pm, Feng posted an Instagram story with nothing but the text “Theme for Atlanta is Baggiest jeans in Atlanta.” To an outsider, this may seem like a genuine request for a theme, like other artists have been doing recently. However, I think Feng was poking fun at typical Atlanta male fashion- vacuum-sealed skinny jeans that have recently sparked conversation online, becoming somewhat of a meme. You could tell the crowd put a lot of thought into their outfits, and before (and even during) the concert, the women’s bathroom was crowded even though there were empty stalls; everyone was gathered around the mirrors for makeup touch-ups and photos.
The tickets were around $50 each (depending on the site used to purchase them), and the concert was a prompt hour, beginning at 8:10 and ending at 9:04. The Loft is a small venue located in Midtown Atlanta, just north of Downtown. It sits on the second floor of the Center Stage complex and is intended for an intimate, 650-person max performance. This was my first visit, and I thought the dim, grungy vibe exactly matched what I believed a Feng show should look like. As far as acoustics went, I found that the speaker quality fell a little flat. There were three giant speakers strapped on top of each other on each side of the stage, and they didn’t quite fill the room, despite them towering over Feng. I feel like the experience would’ve benefitted from better surround sound, to mimic the indulgent feel of listening to him in your headphones. CDs and vinyl are (from what I can find) not for sale yet, so although the ways to listen to his music are limited, I doubt they would be popular if they were options due to the electronic, new-age nature of Feng’s music.
As for the performance, Feng put on an excellent show. As soon as the pre-show tunes (a mix of 2010s pop) stopped and he came on stage, a sea of phones replaced the crowd’s silhouette, some of which stayed up for the whole hour. There have been recent discussions around the usage of phones and how concert experiences can be hindered because of the “loss of connection,” with some artists requiring phones to be put in Yondr pouches (read more here). In this case, though, I found that leaning into the recordings and the social media of it all made the experience feel more whole to me, like I was playing a role. I think that was the way Feng expected the audience to engage with the music. The main takeaway from this show wasn’t supposed to be an elaborate emotional discovery (although it’s great if that happened); he just wanted the audience to have fun. His song Wasted Youth is somewhat about that.
Feng stepped onstage with his hair in his signature high bun and a crewneck with a panda on it. His opening song, “XY”, prompted buzzed movement and immediate singing from the crowd, nearly drowning out Feng. The crowd drew closer immediately, and many from the back weaved their way through the crowd, sporadically blocking Feng from view, but adding to the “night life,” loud-music-dim-lit-packed-room vibe. Feng sang over his recordings, walking around the stage backed with flickering pixelated lights. Every “wus good” drew cheers from the crowd, and he stopped the music only to say “listen to my voice” and to then tell the crowd to *really* open up the pit for a better mosh. Shortly after came a wave of crowd surfing. To end the night, Feng played the fan-favorite, claim-to-fame song, Princess, four times (at first with an elaborate intro). The lights came on, the 2010s music resumed, and the concert was over. An hour after the concert ended, Feng shared an Instagram photo from a balcony, showing fans below making Xs and Os with their arms (“XOXO” being another hit song).
I found myself engulfed in not just the youthful, high-energy crowd, but Feng’s openness about his life in his lyrics. Weekend Rockstar is about his recent transition to the limelight after a nine-to-five monotony, and his self-awareness and positivity about his experience make him stand out from other artists. You could tell everyone in there was truly excited to be there, and I felt my energy levels rising just from being amongst the crowd. His plethora of bass-boosted nostalgic electronic melodies might seem repetitive to some, but specific and intricate differences made for a great album and thus a great setlist. I’m eagerly awaiting his return.
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