Would the real mgk please stand up? It was an unavoidable question Thursday night as the musician (born Colson Baker) ran through a dizzying hodgepodge of material at Allstate Arena, making it difficult to settle on what kind of artist we should take him for in 2025. Or what name — the artist is now formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly.
The concert, part of mgk’s first proper tour since 2022, acted as both a platform to showcase his new moody “vampire phase” album “Lost Americana” while prematurely celebrating the anniversary of his pop-punk debut, “Tickets to My Downfall,” by playing it in full. The Travis Barker-produced record came out five years ago.
In between the album’s token numbers like “My Ex’s Best Friend” were spurts of his hip-hop past (a medley of “Maybe”/“Wild Boy”/“El Diablo”), as well as his country hanger-on song “Lonely Road” (the recorded version featuring Jelly Roll) and his latest foray into pop territory on “Cliché,” a “Lost Americana” track just remixed by The Jonas Brothers.
This knee-jerkiness was cheekily derided in a few of the night’s video interludes as a faux influencer appeared on the screens: “I never liked his emo pop punk, he’s a rapper” quickly transitioned to a video “five months later” admitting, “I’m a fan.” If mgk is bothered by the criticism, at least he plays it off in moments of self-deprecation. As he commended the full house for coming out in the subzero temps, he added, “Most people don’t even want to admit they like mgk.”
The artist pulled out a few hat tricks Thursday to try to change that opinion. Mgk is no stranger to making an entrance (previous tours have featured him ziplining over crowds or careening off helicopters for a stage landing), and this night wasn’t short on stunts or props, either. Once the red curtains were drawn back, the stage revealed a giant, crestfallen Statue of Liberty, her face flush with the stage floor as she glared up at the ceiling. In mgk’s version, Lady Liberty has her nose pierced and arm outstretched, holding a cigarette rather than her burning torch.
As mgk entered the stage, he did so through the statue’s mouth, adding to the questionable stylistic choice to symbolize any kind of current “Americana” in this way. As mgk ascended, a red and white electric guitar came down from the heavens, and he hoisted it like King Arthur gripping Excalibur as an omnipresent narrator hailed him “the myth, the legend, the last rock star.” If that wasn’t extravagant enough, later, his razor blade-shaped guitar spit out shooting sparks on “Papercuts” as his six-piece band (including the dynamo guitarist Sophie Lloyd) added to the crescendo.
But the surprise guest he had waiting in the wings stole the show. “There’s a specific reason I was so excited for the Chicago show. You are all so lucky,” mgk shared as he brought Halsey to the stage for a live version of “Forget Me Not,” their “Tickets to My Downfall” duet. She stuck around for mgk’s “Bad Things,” a song that originally featured singer Camila Cabello. “I never do this song in concert but I knew your voice would be perfect for it,” mgk exclaimed. He wasn’t wrong.
Before Halsey left the stage, mgk offered a moving dedication to her. “I want to give flowers to this amazing woman who’s had a very tough couple of years fighting health scares I got to personally watch her fight through,” mgk said, referencing Halsey’s battle with lupus and a rare T-cell lymphoproliferative disorder for which she recently underwent chemotherapy. “I don’t know that we have acknowledged that enough and how much you mean to music and to me as a friend.”
These intimate moments are when mgk shone. Another came when he welcomed fans to the stage to be his “Bloody Valentine” while acknowledging others’ handmade posters (one shared she had come all the way from Russia to see the show, another gave their mgk-heavy Spotify Wrapped update).
There was also the “Tickets” album ender “Play This When I’m Gone,” transformed into a pensive ballad dedicated to his two daughters as home video of his eldest, Casie, played across the screen. A cover of Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” dripped with emotion, too. It was another duet, this time with opening act Julia Wolf whose moody alt-pop style added gravitas to the heartbreaking serenade. You had to wonder if Wolf was handpicked for the tour just for this moment or for the fact that during her set, she dedicated her song “Jennifer’s Body” to mgk’s on-and-off flame Megan Fox who starred in the 2009 movie of the same name.
But one of mgk’s most artistically rewarding moments over the two hours came when he sat on a stool at a small stage in the center of the arena and masterfully delivered lines from his hip-hop songs, including new track “Who I Was,” a collaboration recorded with rapper NF, and teased a possible rap album coming next year. If he’s going to pick any new persona any time soon, hopefully it’s that one.
mgk set list for Dec. 4, 2025 at Allstate Arena
Outlaw Overture
Starman
Dont Wait Run Fast
Maybe/Wild Boy/El Diablo
Ay!
Goddamn
I Think I’m Okay
Title Track
Kiss Kiss
Drunk Face
Bloody Valentine
Forget Me Too (with Halsey)
Bad Things (with Halsey)
All I Know
Don’t Let Me Go
Who I Was
Sun To Me
Lonely Road
Iris (Goo Goo Dolls cover with Julia Wolf)
Lonely
WW III
Concert For Aliens
My Ex’s Best Friend
Jawbreaker
Nothing Inside
Banyan Tree – Interlude
Play This When I’m Gone
Papercuts
Your Name Forever
Makeup Sex
Cliché
Sweet Coraline
Vampire Diaries