A Night to Remember.
Last Thursday in Chicago, SPKRBX, a concert production company led by Berto Solorio, managed to pull off organizing a listening party for Ye (f.k.a. Kanye West) & Ty Dolla $ign’s album VULTURES 1 (2024) at the United Center on a six-day notice, in partnership with JAM productions. Announced only three days ahead, the event sold out in under seven minutes. We spent the day with Solorio, founder and CEO of SPKRBX.
PHOTO CREDIT: @shxtsfiredofficial
Upon arrival in the afternoon, we found Solorio and his team in full swing, preparing for the evening. The stage, set in the center of the arena with ramps around it, is being built especially for tonight. Solorio, juggling meetings with various crews, shared that the entire setup was conceived and built in less than four days.
We ask Solorio if we can take a photo of him in front of it, to which he quickly replies, “We should get on it!”. As we stand on the stage, we see the entire arena around us, and the dozens of people running around to finish it all in time. In just a few hours, it will be filled up with over 16.000 fans. “It sold out in under seven minutes,” Solario says. “I expected it to do well, but that definitely was a crazy moment”.
He tells us how feelings of accomplishment during events come in waves. “SPKRBX being the company behind it is the first. Selling it out was the second.” But for Solorio, the real feeling of accomplishment comes when the cleaning crew closes the venue doors and he is assured the fans had a good night. “The experience of the crowd is what matters the most”.
For the next few hours it’s hard to get more than a few minutes of Solorio’s time. He is constantly pacing around, having meetings, answering calls and getting guests the right credentials. About 30 minutes before the arena’s doors open, Solorio is helping the production team on final touches, including sweeping the stage.
The energy in the arena was high as fans filled the space. The event kicked off with Ye and Ty Dolla $ign making their entrance as the first song off the VULTURES 1 album starts playing. During the third song, Ye invites his daughter North West on stage to perform their recently released song “Talking/Once Again”. As the entire crowd is screaming the lyrics word for word, we ask Solorio how he is feeling. “This is really cool” he tells us, and instantly adds, “Are you having fun?” as we proceed to enjoy the hour-long listening experience that featured guest appearances of YG, Bump J and Freddie Gibbs.
After the show we meet two fans that are smiling from ear to ear, wearing t-shirts with the VULTURES 1 logo on it. “We came all the way from Germany! This is the best night of our lives”, they tell me. Solorio, seen engaging warmly with guests and staff, appeared fulfilled by the night’s success. His focus now shifts to New York, where SPKRBX replicated this triumph only 24 hours later at the UBS arena.
