Drake’s Anita Max Win Tour continues to generate headlines, and his first Melbourne show at Rod Laver Arena on Feb. 9 was no exception.
Midway through the set at Rod Laver Arena on Feb. 9, the Canadian rapper surprised two audience members with a combined $50,000 in cash gifts during his performance. The moment, which was caught on video that has since circulated on social media, occurred when Drake spotted a sign in the crowd that read “Adonis for President,” a reference to his seven-year-old son.
“You’re showing a lot of love to my son,” he told her. “On behalf of me and Adonis … we’re going to give you 25 grand for your family.”
Another fan’s sign requested a birthday kiss, to which Drake instead responded by gifting her $20,000, covering her birthday dinner with friends, and inviting her to another show with complimentary tickets.
“What I am gonna do is, I’m going to give you 20 grand, and I will pay for a birthday dinner for you and all your friends tomorrow night. And if you want, you can come back to the show again, both of y’all … We’ll get you tickets.”
“Australia, I love y’all. Melbourne, this is real love,” Drizzy added.
Later in the show, the “Energy” hitmaker told fans: “It really touches my heart that—through all of that, you still take your hard-earned money, and you spend some of that money on tickets to this show to see this kid from Canada get up here and talk s–t. I really appreciate you. I would be nothing without you.”
The moment follows similar instances earlier in the tour. At his debut Perth show at RAC Arena on Feb. 5, Drake also handed out cash to fans. “Put the light on this family right here… For both of y’all, I’m gonna give you $20,000 each to go wherever you want in the world because that’s what we do out here in Perth,” he said.
“You gotta show love… You see, it’s nights like these that we can never take for granted; it’s 14,000 people inside one building, and we all got here safe.”
He continued, “I pray to God that you’re healthy; I pray to God that you’re happy, but I promise you that everybody in this room is not happy. There’s a lot of people in here that might be going through some shit, you know, it might be a f—d up time for you.
“Maybe you don’t get treated right by your parents or your boss, or maybe you don’t have that many friends. Maybe your boyfriend is f—-d up; maybe your girlfriend is a little toxic; you never know what the next person is going through, so this is what I want you to do… I want you to turn to somebody that you don’t know, and I just want you to give them a hug [and] say something nice to them.”
Before his first official concert, the rapper also made an appearance at Melbourne’s Maison Batard’s Le Club, performing a surprise 90-minute set featuring tracks such as “Pipe Down,” “Rich Baby Daddy,” “Faithful,” and “Trust Issues”.
The Anita Max Win Tour has so far showcased a broad range of Drake’s catalog, blending chart-topping hits with fan-favorite deep cuts. His Melbourne setlist included tracks such as “Hotline Bling,” “In My Feelings,” “Rich Baby Daddy,” and “Jimmy Cooks,” alongside earlier classics like “Marvin’s Room” and “Over.”
The production features an expansive floating catwalk stage that spans the arena, allowing for an immersive experience. His entrance at the Perth show, where he walked through a cloud of smoke wearing a hoodie adorned with bullet hole graphics, immediately sparked speculation among fans regarding its intended symbolism.
Drake’s Melbourne performance took place one day before Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, during which Lamar performed “Not Like Us,” the viral Mustard-produced track widely believed to be a diss toward Drake.
The moment, which featured a guest appearance from Serena Williams, quickly became a focal point of online discussion. Despite the ongoing discourse surrounding Lamar’s performance, Drake remains focused on his tour, with another show in Melbourne tonight, as well as upcoming Anita Max Win Tour dates in Sydney and Brisbane through March.
Beyond the tour, Drake’s upcoming collaborative album with PARTYNEXTDOOR, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, is set for release on Valentine’s Day.
Over the weekend, he teased a new track, “Crying In Chanel,” sharing a clip of PARTYNEXTDOOR in front of a wedding chapel while the song played. “Shorty right here crying in the middle of Chanel,” Drake sings in the snippet. “Are those tears of joy? I can’t tell.”
$ome $exy $ongs 4 U marks another chapter in Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s decade-long musical partnership, which began with 2013’s “Over Here” and through hits like “Recognize” and “Loyal.”
