Cardi B eats her way through New Orleans, then torches the Superdome stage for her Essence Festival debut show.
Cardi B set off real fireballs during “WAP” and turned Essence Festival’s opening night into her own show completely.
The Bronx rapper had hyped the show all day after landing in New Orleans a night early and diving straight into the city. Essence organizers had billed the show as her festival debut months in advance, and the hype had been building ever since.
She spent Thursday posting Instagram Stories about rehearsing inside the Caesars Superdome, calling the venue “a little bit intimidating.”
She also swung by Morrow’s for gumbo ramen and chargrilled oysters before hyping her own merch booth at the festival.
By the time Friday night rolled around, she was ready to bring what she called a “Cardi Party” to the stage.
She opened with a 20-minute run through her biggest hits, according to NOLA.com. She then disappeared beneath the stage for a costume change that stretched past eight minutes.
Her DJ held the crowd’s attention while fans waited, and she came back in a sultry red look that snapped the energy right back.
She twerked, tapped the mic to wake the crowd up, and walked a lap through the floor section near the stage.
She leaned all the way into “Pretty & Petty” before real fireballs went off during “WAP.” The pyro turned her signature song into one of the loudest moments of the entire festival.
Cardi’s set came fresh off her Little Miss Drama Tour, which wrapped in April after grossing $70 million across 35 sold-out shows.
Billboard reported organizers announced Cardi’s Essence booking back in March alongside Latto, Kehlani, Brandy and Monica for the same bill. Essence Festival of Culture runs through Sunday, with Brandy, Monica and Patti LaBelle set to close out Saturday night.
Three-day passes for this year’s Superdome concerts started at $223.50, with tickets selling out well before the festival’s Fourth of July weekend kickoff.
Essence Festival wraps Sunday night with George Clinton unveiling a brand new Mothership for the tour’s closing show.
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