After exiting the E train at the Forest Hills-71 Avenue stop, fans of Mexican American pop singer Omar Apollo made their way down Continental Ave, passing Austin Street and taking a right on Burns.
The 27-year-old pop sensation is currently on the “God Said No Tour,” named after his most recent album released earlier this year.
The doors of Forest Hills Stadium opened promptly at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 7, and the band Laundry Day was set to perform at 6:15 p.m.
Omar Velasco, known more famously by his stage name, Omar Apollo, was set to perform just after his second opener Malcom Todd at 8:15 p.m.
From the time the doors had opened, an endless stream of fans steadily made their way into the venue — emptying water bottles and abandoning umbrellas on the sidewalk.
As many fans waited for others outside the stadium, Laundry Day could be heard from a distance.
Past the metal detectors, fans were immediately greeted by an array of food stands and long merch lines. Fans had the option to head straight into the stadium, which many had done to secure a spot for themselves closest to the stage.
Nearing 8 p.m., concertgoers had begun scanning their tickets and wristbands provided to allow reentry into the stadium.
Todd closed off his performance by singing a cover of “Leave It All To Me,” the opening theme of the Nickelodeon show “iCarly,” originally sang by Miranda Cosgrove.
The stage began filling with smoke and the spotlight shone on different areas of the crowded pit. Suddenly, everything went dark until a single blue spotlight appeared. Then the entire stage began to flash blue until Apollo was revealed in smoke, standing in the center of the stage about a minute later. Apollo, the pop star who “started from zero” and who originally did not know how to sing, began showing off his impressive vocal range as he performed his entire setlist for the large crowd, which included a mix of songs from his older albums.
A live band accompanied his singing, which included a drummer and guitarists. Interpretive dancers circled around him while he performed.
On the “Ivory Tour,” which took place two years ago, at the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn Apollo wore a sparkly black jacket and pants that glittered and flashed with his every movement.
This year, Apollo wore a white jacket and pants that also glittered and shone as he danced, sang and expertly played his guitar across the stage.
Later, the lights in the venue became a deep red, and the screen behind Apollo displayed an enlarged image of the Mexican flag.
During this time, Apollo paid homage to his Mexican heritage by singing a traditional song fully in his native language. The crowd responded with a roar, and the lyrics could be heard resounding through the pit.
The screen began to roll pictures of Apollo in his childhood along with his family members as the singer continued the tribute to his heritage, which he had also done during the “Ivory Tour.”
It began to rain about midway through the concert as forecasted. Despite this, the energy remained vibrant as Apollo sang on.
After the singer reached the end of his setlist, the crowd begged him to play one last song before he left. Apollo performed “Go Away,” the seventh track on his album “Ivory.”
After the singer had left the stage, a few of his band members and dancers began to throw guitar picks and other items into the crowd that lingered excitedly near the stage.
In 2017, the then 20-year-old Indiana native was “recording songs in his bedroom and driving around in an old car that kept breaking down on the highway,” according to Complex.
When Apollo was 17, he got a job at McDonald’s. “I want to make music,” he told NPR in an interview. “So then I got a job at McDonald’s and then saved up to get a laptop, saved up to get a microphone, and, then, like, just with those two I started.”
After releasing his first single “Ugotme” on Spotify in 2017, Apollo “woke up the next day, [saying] the ballad had already racked up tens of thousands of streams.”
The singer rose to fame after releasing his first full length album “Ivory” in 2022, which earned him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2023.
The singer performed as the opening act for SZA’s “SOS Tour” in 2023, and for two of the Mexico dates as part of Billie Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever, The World Tour” in the same year.
His song “Evergreen (You Didn’t Deserve Me at All)” became the most popular track on the album with most of its gains being attributed to TikTok’s algorithm.
Apollo has currently released five studio albums to date. His latest album entitled “God Said No” was released in 2024, two years after “Ivory.”
The “God Said No Tour” is still in full swing, but is expected to end its U.S. leg on Oct. 11 after its final show in San Diego. Apollo is set to perform at Washington Music Theater in Seattle, Washington on Oct. 1 with support from artist, Kevin Abstract.
