A$AP ROCKY doesn’t so much walk onstage at London’s O2 as arrive like the final boss of a blockbuster: dangling from a helicopter while black-clad SWAT officers scrap with his white-masked followers below.

It’s not a film stunt. That’s simply how the Don’t Be Dumb tour kicks off — and it doesn’t exactly calm down from there. More helicopters appear as props, including a smaller one suspended up in the rafters, where Rocky also performs (a nod to his single Helicopter). The stage itself is built like the top deck of a naval warship, though the show never really explains why.

That odd, maximalist set-up matches the sense of an artist in a messy in-between era. It’s been eight years since Rocky’s last album, and in that time he’s gone from surviving homelessness and incarceration to being a father three times with Rihanna, moving further into acting, and co-chairing the Met Gala.

His latest record aimed to redraw the map, mixing hard-hitting rap with stylistic left turns and unexpected names — including Damon Albarn and Danny Elfman. But onstage, that identity blur still lingers: is he the devoted partner to Rihanna, or the old chaos-agent “still smoking my weed” and reigniting beef with Drake? Even with a No 1 album, the answer doesn’t land cleanly.

The crowd, meanwhile, is fully committed: circle pits for STFU, a mass bounce to Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n), and white shirts spun overhead like rotor blades on command. Rocky seems most alive when he leans into the weirder edges — Punk Rocky, his Thundercat collaboration Stay Here 4 Life, and the hypnotic glide of L$D.

The show is huge, bonkers and tightly executed — but it also leaves a lingering question: if Hollywood offered him a truly career-changing role, would hip-hop even get a look-in?

Rocky plays Dublin’s 3Arena on 2 September, then continues touring the UK until 5 September.