Opening night on the “Orion World Tour 2025” saw queues beginning to form just after mid-day before quickly turning into queues snaking around the block as the clock ticked down to the opening night at the Brooklyn’s very own Barclays Center. They’re a group that have built a reputation on their studio output and numerous hit singles since their rise to superstardom in the previous four years since 2020. Their only previous notable live performances after their breakthrough have come as support acts on the 2023 “The Family World Tour” headlined by Rum & Coke and a bunch of shows around the East Coast of the USA a couple of years before their eventual breakthrough as a signed act. The weather despite it’s freezing temperatures had done nothing to dampen the spirits of the fans eagerly awaiting outside of the venue, tracks from the groups recent sophomore album blared out from a boombox brought by one fan in the queues, chanting and singalong choruses could be heard just down the block from the venue and the noise just continued to increase outside of the venue the closer to doors opening and the close the shows start time started to creep up on the waiting audience.

Eventually the crowds were starting to be let into the venue around 4:45pm and inside the venue those lucky enough to have queued early with a standard ticket, race their way to the front barriers as close as they can get save for the platinum section in front of them. Plenty of queues in the concourse of the building at merch stands and food and drink stands while back inside the venue the stage was set for the first of three supporting acts. A cheer went up as the venue went completely dark before a couple of spotlights hit the stage, a premature eruption of cheers came out from the audience as a stage hand made their way onto the stage with many thinking it was the first performer wading through the darkness onto the stage. A couple of moments later the cheers erupted once more as the first beats of music came pumping through the speakers and ‘Murda Bling’ made his arrival onstage around 6:00pm, delivering a tight forty minute set to get the crowd pumped up.
A brief respite for the crowd to take in more refreshments before making their way back into the venue as the evening continued with the arrival of newcomer ‘Claire Price’ to the stage, in a change-up to the high energy hip-hop performance during the opening performance from ‘Murda Bling’, it was a slew of smooth RnB tracks including her hit debut single ‘Flavors’, getting the crowd amped with the performance of someone with undeniable star power. She’s seen as a future superstar of the industry and her command of the stage and delivery of such mature RnB tracks showcase that those expectations are definitely on point, delivering a performance that truly highlights her potential.

Another brief break before the final support act of the evening made her way onto the stage, the biggest cheer of the evening up to this point was heard as ‘Thickmouse’, the rapper and IT girl of the past couple of years came onto the stage with relentless energy delivering a set that was a perfect appetizer for the headline performance to come, truly getting the crowd energy and noise levels reaching fever pitch throughout her performance. Her confidence shone through onstage delivering energy with natural ability and charisma throughout, delivering her biggest hit “Thicc Girl” saw the audience stepping up their energy levels and noise which continued as she brought out ‘Murda Bling’ to the stage to another huge reaction in order to perform her most recent single “Ten” leaving the audience cheering her name as she finished her set and made her exit from the stage.



Thirty minutes later and the time had arrived for the main event of the evening, the crowd having enjoyed the performances of three legitimate well known artists in the industry already were well and truly warmed up as the intro beat of their opening track “Liberating” played out over the speakers, sending the entire crowd into silent anticipation before pyro and smoke machines went off and the trio came crashing out onto the stage to a gigantic roar of approval from the audience. Each member of ‘Orion’ brought a high level of energy to the stage as they split off into different sections of the stage throughout, occasionally coming back to centre stage and bouncing off of each other’s energy and performance throughout the entire show. ‘Brayton’ took the lead on the opening track in keeping with the original opening track from their debut album. Fans continued feverishly, bouncing and throwing their arms around as well as pushing forward as much as they could to get as close to the stage as possible.

No need for over the top set pieces, the occasional pyro and smoke machine were enough to enhance the show in the eyes of ‘Orion’, but the show’s focus was completely focussed on the performance of the individuals who seemed to be very much in their element. The trio ran through their main set with a confidence and energy that you’d expect from what has become one of the biggest acts in the industry over recent years and the noise decibels from those fans in attendance would attest to the groups popularity as they ran through a blend of tracks from their two albums and EP, (“Rookie of the Year”, “All In”, “My Word”, “Bring Me Down”, “Nightmares to Dreams”, “Homecoming”).
Closing out the first half of their primary set with a relentless onslaught of tracks and very little audience interaction, ‘Jadyn’ and ‘Jamal’ briefly left the stage as ‘Brayton’ took the small break to address the audience, “This shit has been insane, we’ve ran it like crazy for the last four years building ourselves from unknowns to undoubted giants. This has been a fucking generational run and you’re all the reason for that shit. When we announced this tour, we made it clear that this is gonna be the only chance to see us all together for a pretty long time. We gonna take a step away from ‘Orion’ after this tour wraps up and see what shit we can do on our own merit as individuals. The talk that goes on online and in the press is all bullshit, but we’re three individuals with very different ideas and aspirations in our life and now it’s our time to walk that path as individuals for a little while.” he takes a moment as the crowd erupt into cheers before continuing, “But right now and for the next month, WE are still ‘Orion’. I am ‘Brayton Carter’ and these motherfuckers right here are ‘Jadyn Ghalen’ and ‘Jamal Ghalen’. Let’s fucking go!” he says with the crowd erupting as ‘Jadyn’ and ‘Jamal’ both return to the stage, joint in one hand and a red plastic cup in the other as they embrace as a trio before kicking into the second half of the main set.

As the music kicks in during the second half of their performance, the trio remain stood a little more closer to each other this time around as they run through more of the groups hits from their four year run, (“Dynasty”, “We Bring Em Up”, “Off-Season”, “Day One”, “Make America Breathe Again” and “Ride or Die”) as the crowd continue to fire back every word to the group and move to every single beat. The trio get the audience bouncing up and down like crazy throughout, it almost appears like a workout for those in the audience with the energy they’re displaying in their fandom. The announcement that they’ll be stepping away as a group certainly added another level of energy from the crowd, realising that this is likely to be their only opportunity for some time to see them altogether as a group and it appears to have had an effect on the audience.



As they finished their set, the trio took their time to jump down from the stage and reach their hands out to as many of those at the very front of the stage as possible, taking their time to add some sort of human interaction to the events while they can before they made their way back onto the stage, took one final moment to soak in the crowd’s adulation before making their way off the stage. However, it was clear that there was still more to come from the trio and the audience knew this, with the music over the murmurs in anticipation from the crowd could be heard clearly from the back and each member made their way back out onto the stage individually, first with ‘Brayton’ heading back out, taking in the applause and cheers from the crowd, followed by ‘Jamal’ making his way back onto the stage, again joint in hand and bouncing on his feet with boundless energy as the crowd continued to hype them up and finally ‘Jadyn’ arrived back onstage, joint and bottle of Hennessey in hand, he toasted to the crowd and took a couple of mouthfuls of the drink before handing the bottle to one lucky audience member at the front. The trio stood there, center stage with the spotlight shining down on each of them as they took in their audiences adulation for each of them, they were clearly happy to have this moment linger.
Eventually the music kicked in and the trio continued one final lap, each member covering all areas of the stage with their energy and performance levels, rarely missing a beat as they had clearly saved some of their biggest hits for the final encore of the show, the trio ran through a five song encore that was capable of standing up against almost any artist in the industry as they performed (“MVP”, “Money Maker”, “Heart of the Jungle”, “Fuck Me Over” and “All Accelerator, No Brakes”) showcasing their ability not only as a mainstream studio act but also as one of the most exciting live acts around, at least for this next couple of months. As the show came to a close, the fans began dispersing out of the venue, clearly happy with what they had just witnessed. Those with the highest tier of tickets at an eye watering $2,000 per ticket remained until the crowd had left and were directed onto the empty stage and into the wings before making their way backstage for a post-show meet and greet/hangout with the group and support acts. Outside of the venue, the crowds took a while to fade out, but there appeared to be a couple of hundred that remained around the venue, involving themselves in singalongs and occasional anticipation at the hint of glimpsing their stars leaving the venue, they may not have got to see their idols leaving the venue but they made up for it by enjoying themselves late into the evening.

SETLIST;
Liberating
Rookie of the Year
All In
My Word
Bring Me Down
Nightmares to Dreams
Homecoming
Dynasty
We Bring Em Up
Off-Season
Day One
Make America Breathe Again
Ride or Die

MVP
Money Maker
Heart of the Jungle
Fuck Me Over
All Accelerator, No Brakes