Janet Jackson thrills with first Pittsburgh show in 16 years
Pittsburgh fans waited 14 years, plus the 28 months from the time the show was announced, through two postponements, to get another glimpse of Janet Jackson.
The pop princess got a little busy during the past two years, bringing her first child into the Rhythm Nation.
Finally, she arrived Wednesday night at the PPG Paints Arena on the State of the World Tour to reward the patience of 8,000 fans with a high-energy though strippeddown dance-pop production that bounced quickly through her fourdecade history of hits.
It began with a video montage portraying injustices to people of color, including police brutality and Charlottesville, setting the stage for her arrival, dressed in black and dancing with a cane, for a pair of righteous Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis message songs from 1989: “The Knowledge” and “State of the World.”
The 51-year-old icon looked as beautiful and as fit as ever, flashing vintage Jackson moves amid a diverse group of 10 athletic backup dancers, backed by a band laying the beat down loud and heavy. While she danced, her vocals were strong, likely with the help of a backing track.
She touched upon the latest album, “Unbreakable,” early with the banger “BURNITUP!,” before packing hits into sets of medleys, grooving through “Nasty,” “Feedback,” “Miss You Much,” “You Want This,” “Control,” etc.
Coming a little over a week after Lady Gaga torched the same building in one of the year’s most stateof-the-art productions, this show felt like a throwback to the ‘80s. Not only did she eschew the usual frills — risers, pyro, confetti, a b-stage and the like — all she had behind her was a postage-sized screen.
She also kept conversation to a minimum, making just a few comments along the line of “Are you ready to party?” and “I love you.”
Midway through the set, she got more comfortable, changing into a jean jacket and flannel for more intimate, airy vocals on such slower jams as “Twenty Foreplay,” “Where Are You Now” and “Got ‘til It’s Gone,” the latter nicely referencing Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.” J. Cole livened up the room with a video cameo on the sexy “Unbreakable” jam “No Sleeep.”
The emotional standout of the set was dancers acting out hideous moments of domestic violence on the fierce 1997 banger “What About.” Ms. Jackson, appearing to fight back tears, said at its conclusion, “This, this right here, this is me.”
The bummer of the show was her inexplicably dropping a section fans may have been looking forward to: her tribute to brother Michael with the cover of “Scream.” You’ll have to check that out on YouTube.
Instead, she cut to the end, pointing an exclamation on the set powering through “If” (with the metal guitar intro) and the highspirited “Rhythm Nation.” The encore furthered the theme of empowerment with ethereal slow jam “Black Eagle,” giving way to the celebratory “New Agenda.”
She said goodnight with a new personal anthem, the swaying ballad “Well Traveled,” on which she sounds remarkably like her late brother.
It was all joyfully received by fans who look to her as an icon and an inspiration and were thrilled to be in the same house as a Jackson. Scott Mervis: smervis@post-gazette.com.