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By Paul John Cańa, Contributor
There was a spectacular fireworks show in the short intermission
between Chris Brown and Rihanna’s sets at their double bill show
presented by MTV at The Fort open field Sunday night. It was an
incendiary night, and not just because of the pyrotechnics.
Chris Brown entered the stage Spiderman style
suspended on a harness. With three gigantic video walls behind him,
Brown put on the moves alongside his back-up dancers, much to the
audible delight of his mostly female contingent of fans.
Despite the seemingly haphazard flow of the set,
audiences made their appreciation felt throughout the show. One of
the most applauded segments was of Brown aping his idol in a Michael
Jackson medley, complete with the crotch grabbing moves on “Billie
Jean.” He displayed his killer dancing skills accompanied by a
club DJ, who inserted snippets of familiar if a bit out-of-place
tunes—Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Whitney
Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”—during brief
outfit-changing intervals.
Predictably, audiences went wild during two of
Brown’s biggest hits, the drippy ballad “With You,” which had
the entire mass of sweaty bodies singing along, and “No
Air”—which was appropriate, considering how suffocating it
must’ve been for many in the sardine-packed audience.
Rihanna didn’t appear until about forty
minutes after Brown exited the stage, but it was more because they
needed time to rearrange the stage. The excitement and energy level
had already gone down a few notches by the time strains of her hit
“Disturbia” finally wafted through the air and Rihanna herself
materialized onstage. Even her gaudy makeup and an impossibly
high-cut black bottom that left little to the imagination failed to
rouse the spirits of a crowd that was obviously feeling the effects
of fatigue.
Rihanna felt the anemic response but, bless her,
she still managed to put on quite a show. Peppering her onstage
banter with shouts of “Manila,” the “Good Girl Gone Bad”
singer from the sun-kissed island of Barbados did her best to liven
up the audience.
Rihanna’s distinct, almost squeaky singing was
exactly as it was on her records, but it was her gyrating, sexy
onstage presence that really put a stamp to her set. There was a
tinge of rock by way of an appropriately dressed guitarist, but with
Rihanna’s suggestive poses and blatant aura of sensuality, there
was no denying the sexual flavor of the entire ensemble. If Brown
had a thing for the King Michael Jackson, Rihanna obviously tipped a
hat off to the Queen, Madonna. Like the enduring pop diva, every
swivel of the hip, every turn of the head, every roll of the eye and
every flick of the wrist was deliberate and well-choreographed.
Eventually, the crowd showed its appreciation,
particularly when she launched into her biggest hits “SOS,”
“Take A Bow,” “Hate That I Love You,” and “Shut Up and
Drive.” She inserted a quick sample of Madonna’s “Music” on
her own song “Don’t Stop the Music,” driving her fans wild.
But it was her biggest hit, and one of the biggest songs of 2007
that drew the loudest hoots of approval. She started “Umbrella”
as an acoustic number, as several umbrellas simultaneously went up
over the crowd. Eventually, Chris Brown joined her in a faster remix
of the ubiquitous song.
Some 70,000 people packed themselves inside the
makeshift concert grounds at The Fort, and for the most part, a good
number of them went home satisfied, if a bit exhausted, tongues
hanging out in dehydration, tonsils flaring up from screaming so
loud. A double concert that headlines two of pop music’s current
top acts is a good thing, however you look at it.
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