Rapper Lil Yachty made his high-powered debut at the 11th iteration of The Warm Up, one of the annual campus concerts put on by the Associated Students Program Board. With record-breaking attendance and an exceptionally rowdy student-only crowd, Lil Yachty brought the heat to UC Santa Barbara’s Thunderdome.
Tej Tripathy / Daily Nexus
Lil Yachty (real name Miles Parks McCollum) emerged onto the rap scene in 2015 and is known for his versatile sound and experimental approach to the rap genre. He was joined by R&B singer Destin Conrad and Associated Students Program Board (ASPB) Battle of the Bands winner Faux Fur at the April 4 campus concert.
According to ASPB Special Events Coordinator and third-year sociology major Sariya Dyson, ASPB chose Lil Yachty because of his universal appeal to the UCSB student body.
“[Lil] Yachty is versatile and universal … his area of rap and his area of music is not just typical rap or typically what you would think of as a rapper,” Dyson said. “He is someone that matters to students.”
Since its inception in 2015, The Warm Up concert annually takes place on the evening of Deltopia, an unsanctioned Isla Vista street festival at the start of spring quarter. The concert is designed to serve as an alternative to the hectic daytime festival, offering students a campus event instead.
Following the January 2026 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors ruling that effectively banned Deltopia from taking place, eyes were turned toward the ASPB campus concert. Disappointment surrounding the cancellation and the emergence of Soltopia (Isla Vista Community Services District’s Deltopia alternative) lended itself toward the mass interest in the concert.
“The moment we found out Deltopia was actually cancelled, [ASPB] had to pivot our ideas of what we wanted The Warm Up to look like,” Dyson said. “This has to be something that’s going to make students want to stay and also be worth it for Deltopia being canceled.”
Unlike previous years of The Warm Up, which tends to have lower attendance due to its shared date with Deltopia, 2026’s concert brought in a large crowd of over 3,000 attendees, making it one of the biggest evenings in the concert’s history. According to Dyson, 2026’s Warm Up was the first time the concert had sold out of tickets in years.
“I think people were more incentivized to come to The Warm Up once Deltopia was canceled, because people didn’t really seem like people had plans outside of Soltopia,” Dyson added.
As students filed into the Thunderdome around 8 p.m., Faux Fur took to the stage to welcome in the crowd. The rock band won ASPB’s Battle of the Bands on Feb. 27, securing them the opening slot at The Warm Up.
ASPB Battle of the Bands winner Faux Fur welcoming students to the concert. (Tej Tripathy / Daily Nexus)
Opening act Destin Conrad brought R&B to the Thunderdome stage, serenading the crowd with songs like “BAD BITCHES” and “IN THE AIR.” During his set, Conrad danced across the stage, often pointing to and shouting out crowd members that caught his eye.
“UCSB, I’m not gonna lie … I see a lot of bad bitches here,” Conrad said between songs, which received cheers from the crowd.
As he ended his set, Conrad recorded a selfie video with the student crowd, which he later posted to his Instagram story.
Destin Conrad warming the crowd as the opening act, with songs like “BAD BITCHES” and “IN THE AIR.” (Tej Tripathy / Daily Nexus)
The Thunderdome audience grew antsy waiting for Lil Yachty to take the stage. Crowd members began to chant “Yachty, Yachty, Yachty,” in anticipation for the rapper and voiced frustrations at the prolonged intermission.
At around 10 p.m., Lil Yachty’s DJ, Rio Amor, took to the stage to prepare the crowd for the rapper’s performance, asking the crowd to jump during her DJ set.
“Are y’all ready for Lil Yachty?!” she yelled out.
The rapper then emerged onstage, showing off a UCSB shirt to the crowd as students roared with excitement. He was joined onstage by Camo!, a member of Lil Yachty’s rap collective Concrete Boys. Together, Lil Yachty and Camo! hyped the crowd up with the opening song “POINT ME TO IT.”
“What’s up, how y’all motherfucking feeling tonight?” Lil Yachty asked the crowd. “I just got off the motherfucking plane from Atlanta, Georgia to come kick it with y’all, make some motherfucking noise!”
He then introduced himself, Rio Amor and Camo! to the crowd, referring to the latter as his “little brother” in reference to the pair’s artistic collaborations.
Decked out in a light blue track suit, Lil Yachty rapped across the Thunderdome stage, nodding and jumping to the beat of the song while adlibbing.
Lil Yachty making his Thunderdome debut to the Gaucho-only crowd. (Tej Tripathy / Daily Nexus)
Mid-set, the rapper paused and asked the crowd to ramp up their energy, commenting on the low-energy crowd and encouraging a more unruly environment. “Turn up the motherfucking energy in this bitch … flip this bitch upside down, this bitch a little low right now. Open up a motherfucking mosh pit!”
The crowd obeyed, forming a mosh pit and upping the audience’s energy. However, while the rowdiness was welcomed and carried out by the student crowd, others expressed concerns over the lack of crowd control and protections. Multiple students requested to be lifted out of the pit by concert security due to the increasingly aggressive crowd, while some relocated to avoid the mosh.
“[The concert] was really, really packed … at first [I was in] the front, and then [a] mosh pit started happening, and I got crushed. So I went to the back,” second-year anthropology and Spanish major Lily Hartwick said, recounting her experience.
Despite the unruly crowd, students were still in for a good time. The rapper made sure to include popular tracks that he is featured on, such as “Broccoli” and “iSpy,” and the crowd chanted along to the lyrics.
Tej Tripathy / Daily Nexus
The rapper concluded his set with his viral hit “drive ME crazy!” The experimental, neo-soul track marked a departure from Lil Yachty’s typical high-energy rap sound and had the crowd swaying and singing along. Lil Yachty looked out at the crowd singing the lyrics back to him, nodding with approval.
Following his solo verse, Lil Yachty thanked the crowd, blowing kisses and holding his heart before heading backstage. While initially confused by his sudden exit, the students cheered for the rapper and danced as the outro of the song played.
Reception to the concert was positive. Third-year economics major Richard Ahn described the concert as “fire,” and expressed a desire for a longer performance from the headliner.
“[Lil] Yachty performed really well, it was a little short, but it was still pretty fire,” Ahn said.
From the ASPB side, the concert was a massive success.
“[ASPB is] really proud,” Dyson said. “And we’re still in shock of how great of a turnout it was.”
However, Hartwick highlighted a need for crowd control at future campus concerts, saying “if there’s anything to prevent getting short people squished, that would be nice.”
This article appeared in the April 9 print edition of the Daily Nexus
