Drake gives away another $50k to fans at second night of Melbourne tour at Rod Laver Arena
Canadian rapper Drake has splashed more cash on concertgoers at his second night of his Melbourne tour, handing over $20,000 to fund a European vacation and $30,000 for a tech start-up.
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Drake’s cash splash has spilled over to a second night in Melbourne after the rap superstar pledged $20,000 to fund a European vacation, and $30,000 for a tech start-up.
At his second Rod Laver Arena show on Monday, Drake gifted $20,00 to three men holding a sign that read, “Fund The Lads Euro Trip.”
“Look, on behalf of me and my boys – a lot of my best friends are here tonight – we’re gonna pay for y’alls three trip to go to Europe,” Drake told them.
They planned to go to Mykonos.
“You want to go to Ibiza and Mykonos?” Drake said.
“All right, I got you, I’ll take care of it for you.”
The Canadian superstar then pledged $30,000 to a woman who plans to start a tech company.
Her sign read, “Start My Tech Company, Papi.”
Drake said: “You know I’m all about being an entrepreneur, and having a hustle. I don’t know how much it costs to start a tech company, but I’m gonna give you 30-grand US to start it.”
Monday night’s cash splash came after Drake gifted $45,000 to two women at his Sunday night show.
A woman holding a sign which acknowledged the rapper’s 7-year-old son, Adonis, was gifted $25,000.
“You’re showing a lot of love to my son,” Drake told the fan.
“On behalf of me and my son, we’re going to give you 25-grand.”
He then gave $20,000 to a woman with a placard asking for a birthday kiss.
“It’s a tough read on the kiss,” Drake said.
“But what I am gonna do is, give you 20-grand, and I will pay for a birthday dinner for you and your friends tomorrow night.”
Drake added: “Australia, I love y’all. Melbourne, this is real love.”
After the Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl diss it was unclear if Drake was hitting back at his nemesis who performed Not Like Us and included a surprise cameo by Drake’s ex-girlfriend and tennis legend Serena Williams in his half-time show.
“You ever in your life gave your time, gave your engery, gave your money, gave your heart, gave your soul, gave everything that you ever had to somebody and they f...ing played with you and wasted your time, wasted your energy, wasted your money,’’ Drake told the crowd on Monday night.
“I want you all to turn up to this song, this for all your exes who think they can play you in their f...ing life. If you’re doing better than your ex I want to see you turn the f..k up.”
Drake then sang You Broke My Heart. His ongoing feud with Grammy award winner Lamar has captured the world’s attention.
He and his crew are getting around in Melbourne, on Friday night hitting the Beverly Rooftop in South Yarra with 150 girls and drinking 1942 Don Julio tequila all night, organised by Secret Entertainment.
He also had dinner again at Maison Batard and on Saturday visited the Summer Jam basketball festival in St Kilda.
On Monday night he went to Electric on Chapel St, arriving at midnight and partying until 3am. He grabbed the microphone to perform some classics and an Oasis cover with a DJ.
He’s also previously booked out the whole of Bar Bambi and did a secret gig at Le Club in Maison Batard on Bourke St.
His performance sure was full of love — on both sides.
Drake worked the room to fever pitch, from every angle, for 90-plus minutes, in a career-spanning set of multi-billion streamers, certified bangers and deep cuts.
The 43-song set included God’s Plan (2.7 billion streams), Hotline Bling (1.4 billion), Nice For What (1.3 billion), In My Feelings (1.4 billion), Passionfruit (1.7 billion) and One Dance (3.5 billion).
Drake’s Spotify numbers, to date, are a staggering 108 billion.
For context, Taylor Swift has 99 billion streams.
Drake’s concert production, with a floating catwalk stage that ran the length and breadth of Rod Laver Arena, redefined the parameters of being up close and personal with a headline act.
Drake opened his ‘Anita Max Win Tour’ by walking down the stairs, through the crowd, from the upper level of the arena, and prowled the floating stage (to delight of those in lower level seats and the mosh pit below) for most of the show.
He also performed a club set, alongside a DJ, on a landing between the upper and lower seating zones.
Drake was here, there and everywhere; energised, relentless.
He slowed down only to pay tribute to the sold-out room.
“There’s 15,000 people in there tonight. It’s never lost on me because … I’m sure you’ve got a job, or a hustle, or something that you do,” Drake said.
“It really touches my heart that you take your hard earned money, and you spend some of that money on tickets to this show to see that kid from Canada get up here.”
His parting shot was a pep talk.
“You’ve got to start raising your standards for yourself,” he said at the end of the show.
“Are you listening to me? If (there are) things you really want in life, you’ve got to start raising your standards for yourself. You’ve got to stop settling for bulls---.”
Drake returns to the pulpit at Rod Laver Arena on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Tickets are available at livenation.com.au.
Originally published as Drake gives away another $50k to fans at second night of Melbourne tour at Rod Laver Arena
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