Blast From the Past: Pier Live Concert

Los Santos, San Andreas – Billyboe Stone, alongside CandiKane, Lil Pooh, and Jason Tanners headlined the Pier Live Concert on August 27th. The festivities began at 10 PM EST. and lasted well into the early morning, with multiple other well-known artists and performers making surprise appearances, including DJ BEEF,  Piper Riggs, and Aiko Arakawa.

Stonefire Entertainment, led by Billyboe,  worked In collaboration with Pearls Food Restaurant, Cockatoos Nightclub, and Los Santos Underground to coordinate a large, live concert at the end of the Del Perro Pier. General admission was 600$, with backstage, V.I.P. access available for 1500$, (with both including a free meal, courtesy of Pearls). The night began with DJ  BEEF as the opener, a position that, while often overlooked, is essential to a concert’s success.

Rhylee Finke

“Being an opening act, oftentimes at the beginning of a show people are still kinda filtering in and wondering like, ‘hey, uh… what’s the mood?’ and my job, as the brah in charge, is to basically be like ‘the mood is dance your ass off and have some fun.’  So, what  I generally try to do is kinda match the mood for what I know the music is gonna be. So like, Jason Tanners plays the harder stuff, Candi sings her heart out… I try to kinda match the mood of it to get people pumped up for the rest of the show,” DJ  BEEF had said. 

Being a “DJ,” – an abbreviation for Disk Jockey, aka a person who generally creates remixes using recorded music and sounds, among other things – DJ BEEF doesn’t typically receive the same type of recognition as other artists do, as he confessed to Weazel News. 

“I don’t really get all the recognition, that’s ok. I’m kinda stage shy, so I don’t really want it. Y’know, as long as I see people dancing – I also kinda run around and act like a little hypeman – if people are pensive, they might not feel the music or are shy, so I go up and try to get things going.”

Piper Riggs followed DJ BEEF’s performance with one of her latest releases, “Operator.”  According to Piper, the song reminded me of the love and support she has for her partner.

“It’s supposed to be about a couple working together to fix their problems, and sometimes it gets really hard to do that. And, you just can’t give up, y’know? It’s a really personal kinda thing that I put out there. Which is why, at the end of the song, ‘I love you, I’m not gonna give up on you, me and us.’  I never give up,” Riggs had said. “When you love someone, you just don’t give up.”

She also informed Weazel of two upcoming tracks she’s got planned but is currently unable to provide any specific details. In addition, she briefly mentioned the release of a collaboration with Bando, on September 2nd, called “Someone New.”  Piper Riggs is currently not signed to any label – though she mentions that’s always subject to change – but remains longtime friends with Jason Tanners, reportedly saying that he’s been a huge inspiration for her return to the stage and her overall music career.

“If it wasn’t for Jason, I wouldn’t be doing music at all,” Piper confessed, “I wouldn’t be here at all right now if it wasn’t for him encouraging me. I owe a lot to him, we are very good friends.”

Candi Kaine, also known as Cadence Kaine, followed Piper Riggs with multiple confident, passionate performances. Her powerful vocals led the crowd into feverish dancing and maintained the hype that DJ BEEF began the night with. When speaking with Weazel News she confessed that a lot of her music was largely inspired by current events in her life and the feelings associated with them. She also mentioned that out of all of her new releases, “For My Hero” stood out as one of her favorites of the night, with “The Unseen,” one of her older tracks, being the second.

“‘The Unseen’ is a great song because it’s about looking beyond surface things and seeing things on a deeper level. The things that people don’t notice, being able to see beyond that, and having deeper connections with people. The other one is ‘For My Hero.’ I had a very close family member pass away recently, and I wrote the song for him because a lot of times I tend to write music based on how I’m feeling or things that are going on in my life. It’s a way of release, and that was very cathartic for me to write a song that I think people can relate to. I write it in a way that’s more than just me singing about a family member I miss, but someone you love who is no longer around,” Candi told Weazel.

Candi Kaine certainly does live up to the sweetness of her name, as she did have a message for her listeners toward the end of the interview:

“Try not to look at the bad things so much, because there are always bright spots anywhere you go. It may be hard to find, but you’ll find it eventually. There are people who care about you,” she had said. “You can’t be a musician or a singer or any kind of entertainer without people who will support you. And so, I want to support the people who support me. You guys are amazing, and I love every single person that appreciates my music.”

Candi Kaine, while currently not signed with anyone following ‘post-munity,’ is possibly looking to sign with Bohan. She’s going to continue securing gigs throughout San Andreas and hopes to be able to provide a great time for anyone who attends them.

“I just want people to relax, I want people to look at me and see this symbol of hope and positivity in a world that’s mostly negative.”

Jason Tanners followed Candi Kaine’s powerful performance with his equally impressive show, with DJ BEEF initially providing entertainment while he finished his vocal warmups. His music primarily held melodies of punk, rock, and metal, with a few having rhetoric that focused on critiquing society and the government. Though, a majority of his music was focused on elements of life and self. 

Halfway through his set, he shocked concertgoers with a surprise appearance from Aiko Arakawa. The international superstar had been seen entering the concert earlier with other well-known artists from one of Los Santos’ rising music labels, Kokoro. There was no word of her collaboration with Jason Tanners beforehand, so seeing her leaping on stage got the crowd rather ecstatic. They performed a recently released collaboration song called “LDR,” in which Jason Tanners accredited Aiko Arakawa to being the genius behind its creation.

“She’s been just a pleasure to work with, she was the mastermind behind what the song is about.” He had confessed on stage, before inviting her on stage and leaping straight into the song. Their styles mixed extremely well and the performance was nothing short of extraordinary. 

His last song was a cover of “Hallelujah,” a song written and created by Leonard Cohen back in 1984. A mixture of melancholy and heavy metal made it one of the crowd’s favorites of the evening. 

When he spoke to Weazel News he admitted that this event had blown his expectations.

 “This is probably the biggest show I’ve performed so far. I figured I’d be a little nervous, but I’m not actually. I’m actually just very excited.”

He continued, “I just want to thank everybody for coming. The guys who put this show on, Marco and Billyboe, put their blood, sweat, and tears into it and they absolutely deserve all the good shit that’s happening tonight.”

Little Pooh would end up next in line to perform. Earlier in the evening, before the festivities began, Weasel spoke with him about how he felt the concert would carry out. Like Tanners, he enjoyed the big turnout and already had predicted the night would be highly successful. Though, he was particularly thrilled about his collaboration with Billyboe.

“I’m excited to showcase this new song that I and Billyboe have. All I can say is the name of the song is ‘Brother Dog’ and It’s going to be fantastic.”

The singer-songwriter’s presentation on stage was filled with riveting stage lighting and low, pulsing, danceable rap. He notably engaged often with the crowd to transition between each song. His last performed song ended up being the previously mentioned “Brother Dog,” a country rap that saw Billyboe leaping on stage and dazzling the audience with Little Pooh. 

The switch between Billyboe Junior and Little Pooh was smooth and would detail the rest of the evening with hit singles such as “Fishin’ With The Stars,” which refer to his widely known pastime of fishing, as well as the humorously, pants-off encouraging “The Underwear Song.” The latter, of which, has become increasingly well-known city-wide. There was also a distinctive head nod to one of San Andreas’ hardest working government departments with a song labeled “Public Works.”

Photo Credit: Rhylee Finke

He also performed “Paralyzed,” which contradicted his normally upbeat music for a sorrowful tale of betrayal. Whereas “Marco Firenze,” was a heart-tugging song about lacking the presence of an old friend.

The night ended with Piper Riggs returning to the stage to sing her hit single “Summer of 95,” with Jason Tanners covering the song’s guitar chords. Halfway through the song, a spontaneous mosh-pit ignited with some encouragement from the concert’s management, of which Riggs comically finished with, “I also should probably mention that Pearls isn’t liable for any dangers or bodily injuries that occur during this concert… thank you, goodnight!”

Shortly after, Weazel News spoke to Billyboe to interview him on the success of the Pier Live Concert. 

“It was great, y’know,” he told Weazel, “this was more than I could have ever imagined. This was something I’ve dreamed about. It was amazing to come here with all these artists and do it. We’ve been working on this for a long time, this is my biggest show ever. One-hundred percent, no doubt, this was amazing. I’ve had more fun than any other night, this was – it’s hard to use words to explain it. On top of the world, y’know, on top of the world.”

He shared that his favorite song, out of those he performed, was “Devil Disciple,” primarily due to how personal it was and the crowd’s reaction to it. That, and of course, the bonus of a mosh-pit. Outside of his own music, he especially enjoyed “Eyesore,” by Jason Tanners, “The Summer of ‘95,” with Piper Riggs, and Lil Pooh’s “Southside.” 

Billyboe attributed almost the entirety of the success of the concert to Marco Firenze. According to the country star, Macro got the word out there, which contributed to a high number of ticket sales. He also arranged for businesses to appear at the event, a process that Billyboe himself noted as being not necessarily hard, but remarkably time-consuming.

“A lot of phone calls, texting… my heart rate is permanently elevated at this point,” Marco later confirmed with Weazel, adding that “the most challenging part was Billyboe. There’s no such thing as a one-track mind with Billyboe, It’s like a nine-million-track mind, you gotta keep him on the same page. While he was the most difficult part, he was also one of the better parts, like the glue that holds it all together. He was solely responsible for the artists and their setlists. I was completely hands-off with the music.”

Marco Firenze expressed a great appreciation for everyone who participated in the event. He wrote on Twitter that “Los Santos is filled with incredible talent and it was my absolute honor to be able to set this event up. Thank you. Just thank you. To everyone. To concert goers, the artists, the sponsors, everyone. You’re all amazing. Dreams came true tonight.”