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Jack Harlow Makes His Long-Awaited Return on Opening Night of The Monica Tour
- Miranda Wyman
- Aug 9
- 7 min read
After four years away from touring, Harlow took over Brooklyn Paramount with new music, fan-favorite throwbacks, and a sold-out crowd ready to welcome him back.
Article & Photography Contributed by Miranda Wyman.
After four years away from touring, Jack Harlow made his long-awaited return to the stage on Tuesday, August 4, kicking off The Monica Tour with a sold-out show at the Brooklyn Paramount in Brooklyn, New York. For an opening night, there was already a feeling in the room that this was more than just another tour stop. Fans packed the venue for the sold out show, ready to see what Harlow would bring to his return on stage after the hiatus.
The night began with Clockwork DJ, an American DJ, producer, and rapper from Cincinnati, Ohio. Clockwork spent around 30 minutes warming up the crowd with a mix of songs meant to keep the energy high. Throughout his set, he made sure to show love to the surrounding areas, shouting out NYC, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Jersey, and Philadelphia. By the end of his 30 minutes onstage, the room was fully warmed up and ready for the rest of the night.
Harlow's second opener was James Savage, a rising R&B artist based out of Louisville, Kentucky. With Harlow also coming out of Louisville, having another artist from the city on the opening night lineup made the pairing feel especially fitting. After Savage finished his set and the stage was cleared, anticipation continued to build throughout the Brooklyn Paramount.
As the opening notes of "Trade Places" filled the venue, the crowd erupted. After four years without a full tour, there was no hesitation in his return. Jack Harlow stepped back onto the stage like he had never left, immediately settling into the confidence and relaxed stage presence fans have come to expect from him. Jack followed the album's tracklist with "Lonesome" and "Prague." Monica moves away from the hip-hop sound heard throughout his earlier work and instead leans into a slower, more laid-back R&B style. After "Prague," though, he switched directions.
The opening notes of "Luv Is Dro" from his 2020 album That's What They All Say instantly brought another wave of excitement through the crowd. He followed it with "Like a Blade of Grass" from 2022's Come Home the Kids Miss You, and the throwbacks quickly became some of the biggest crowd moments of the early part of the night. The songs on Monica slowed things down, while the older tracks brought the energy right back up. Jack Harlow didn't separate the night into different eras of his career. Instead, he moved back and forth between them, keeping longtime fans guessing what they might hear next.
Harlow continued with "Already Best Friends," his hit collab with Chris Brown from That's What They All Say, before moving back into Monica with "My Winter" and "Move Along."
"Route 66" and "Way Out" brought the show back to 2020, followed by "Nail Tech," one of Harlow's biggest singles from the Come Home the Kids Miss You era. Every time the crowd settled into the slower pace of the Monica songs, another familiar beat would hit and send the energy right back up.
Looking out at the sold-out Brooklyn Paramount, he took in the crowd before acknowledging just how long it had been since he had done this.
"This is my first tour in four years, and it feels so good to be back," Harlow told the audience.
The moment felt especially fitting on opening night. Rather than immediately moving into another song, Harlow spent some time talking to the crowd and reflecting on his previous years on the road. He shared memories from his last tour, explaining how he and his brother would set up microphones inside different hotel rooms while traveling from city to city. After performing each night, new ideas would sometimes come to him, and instead of waiting until he returned home or got back into a proper studio, he wanted to capture them immediately. Those late-night hotel room recording sessions became part of his creative process while touring.
The story gave the crowd a small look behind the scenes at what life on the road had been like for Harlow and also helped introduce one of the night's more personal moments.
He followed the story with "Denver" from his 2023 album Jackman. The song is more reflective and personal than much of Harlow's earlier work, and hearing it after his story about touring made it feel even more connected to the moment. He stayed with Jackman for the next few songs, performing "No Enhancers," "They Don't Love It," and "Is That Ight." From there, he shifted back into Monica with "All of My Friends," "Living Alone," and "Against the Grain." Throughout the night, Harlow continued to bounce between the different stages of his career instead of sticking with one album for too long, and that became one of the things that made the set work so well. Newer songs were constantly surrounded by tracks longtime fans had grown up listening to, giving both sides of his catalog their moment.
And then he really took it back.
Harlow reached further into his catalog with songs from his 2018 project Loose and 2019's Confetti. The second "Sundown" began, it became clear just how many longtime Jack Harlow fans were packed into the Brooklyn Paramount.
"Warsaw" followed before he moved into "Ghost" and "Thru the Night," and Harlow couldn't help but acknowledge the reaction he was getting from the crowd. He joked about having some "real ones" in the building who knew the songs from well before his mainstream breakthrough.
For fans who had been following Harlow before "WHATS POPPIN" turned him into a household name, this part of the set felt like a reward. Songs from Loose and Confetti don't necessarily represent the Jack Harlow casual listeners may know today, but inside the sold-out Brooklyn Paramount, plenty of people knew every word.
Before performing "Thru the Night," Harlow also took a moment to shout out fellow Louisville native Bryson Tiller, who is featured on the song. Both artists were born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, making the collaboration one that has always carried a little hometown pride with it.
That connection became even more special that night when Harlow told the audience that "Thru the Night" had officially gone Platinum that very day, August 4. The milestone meant the song had reached the equivalent of one million units sold in the United States.
From there, Harlow kept the throwbacks coming, moving into some of the biggest songs from the next chapter of his career. "Churchill Downs" kicked off the run, followed by "Dua Lipa," both from his 2022 album Come Home the Kids Miss You. At this point in the night, the Brooklyn Paramount had turned into one massive sing-along, with fans shouting nearly every word back at him. He followed with "SUVs (Black on Black)," his 2021 collaboration with Pooh Shiesty, before going even further into his catalog for "Movie Star" and "I Wanna See Some Ass." Instead of building a show almost entirely around Monica, he was giving longtime fans songs from every era of his career. The second "INDUSTRY BABY" started, the energy inside the room shot right back up. From the barricade to the balcony, the sold-out Brooklyn Paramount seemed to know every word.
With so much of the night's setlist moving between the slower R&B sound of Monica and the rap-heavy songs that built Harlow's career, this stretch was a reminder of just how many different versions of Jack Harlow have existed over the years. There was the hungry Louisville rapper from Loose and Confetti, the breakout star behind songs like "SUVs" and "INDUSTRY BABY," and now the more mature, laid-back artist heard throughout Monica.
Jack spoke about the COVID lockdown and how much of his first album was written while he was living in an apartment in Atlanta. With touring put on hold and the world essentially shut down, Harlow said that period gave him the time to sit with his music and create in a different way. He explained that the next song came from that time and that he recorded it in just one take. That song was "Tyler Herro." The track immediately brought the energy back up, but the story behind it gave the performance a little more meaning. After "Tyler Herro," Harlow took another moment to speak directly to the fans.
"If you spend money on a ticket, I really don't take it lightly. Thank you so much," he told the crowd.
It was a simple comment, but it felt genuine. Throughout the night, Harlow acknowledged how much it meant to him to be touring again, and by the end of the show, it was clear he wasn't taking the return for granted.
"WHATS POPPIN" kicked off the final three-song run and instantly sent the room into another frenzy. The song helped launch Harlow into the mainstream and, even years later, still got one of the biggest reactions of the night. He followed with "First Class," another career-defining hit, before closing the night with "Lovin on Me." By then, nearly the entire venue was on its feet, singing along as Harlow brought opening night to a close.
For a tour built around an album that shows a softer and more R&B-focused side of Harlow, opening night never forgot where he came from. The set pulled from nearly every stage of his career, from Loose and Confetti to That's What They All Say, Come Home the Kids Miss You, Jackman, and now Monica. The older songs brought some of the loudest reactions of the night, while the new material showed where Harlow is headed next. Together, they made The Monica Tour feel less like a simple album tour and more like a look back at the career that brought him to this point. After four years away from touring, Jack Harlow didn't just return to the stage in Brooklyn. He reminded everyone why they missed him.
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