RIHANNA LETS LOOSE EMOTIONS
Barbadian pop star’s show far from predictable as she lights up fans at Rexall
Yay, nipples!
Rihanna shows hers in the music video to Needed You, which she just so happened to release Wednesday — hours before her concert in Edmonton. (Cue Twitter storm.)
Apart from RiRi’s breasts — peeking out from under a seethrough dress — the Harmony Korine-directed clip is about as cliched as they come, filled with strippers, gangsters and guns. Yawn.
Rihanna’s show at Rexall Place wasn’t quite as risqué, but it was far from predictable. On previous tours, the Barbadian pop star came across as a bored princess, but she actually looked engaged during Wednesday’s show — like she wasn’t just going through the (e)motions as she sauntered around the stage, singing hits from her eight albums, accompanied by a group of dancers.
The secret, it seems, to maintaining Rihanna’s attention is letting her sing abbreviated versions of her songs. She performed nine in the first 20 minutes — including Love the Way You Lie (Part II), Birthday Cake, and Bitch Better Have My Money — before she dashed backstage for one of several costume changes, letting her dancers writhe, leap and spin on their own.
(Her outfits, while revealing, were oddly modest — such as her sexy boots paired with a leotard and a hooded robe that made her look like a cross between a fencer, a prisoner and a hospital patient.)
Another pleasant surprise: Not only did Rihanna start her 90-minute set with a gorgeous ballad, Stay, instead of a high-energy dance anthem, she sang it on a riser at the back of the arena. Fans, sporting their finest club wear and jeans, squealed with delight, trying to capture the moment with their phones and cameras. As she finished, she waved shyly to the crowd, then slowly turned around to survey the arena, letting fans take a few extra snaps for Twitter and Instagram. #ANTIWorldTour, right? She then strode onto a hovering Plexiglas beam, which slowly transported her to the mainstage, as she sang Sex With Me above the heads of some of the 10,000 fans packed into Rexall. Pretty cool — most acts wait until the end of their sets to pull out the gadgets.
The stage, shrouded in white, itself was stunning in its simplicity. Instead of employing an array of stairs, risers and other contraptions, her backup singers and musicians all huddled in the centre of the stage — looking more like a symphony orchestra than an arena band. At one point, they were surrounded by what looked like plastic igloos during Man Down, while blobs of foam poured down at the back of the stage during Diamonds.
Rihanna still isn’t the most charismatic of performers — she doesn’t always look like she’s invested in what she’s doing — but she’s definitely getting better. And while her 80-minute set featured some pre-recorded vocals, her own pipes sounded sweet, tangy and strong.
Opener Travis Scott also managed to up his game since his last visit to Rexall.
Back in November, when he opened for The Weeknd, Scott ended up getting on stage 25 minutes late — leaving the Houston rapper with a two-song, fiveminute set.
So, in a sense, he had something to prove to Edmonton fans — and he didn’t disappoint. After a 10-minute warm-up session by his DJ, the camo-clad Scott appeared on stage, rapping and jumping around under a huge facsimile of his own face. He did his best to win over the crowd — talking about buying a house in Edmonton, giving props to Gretzky, and calling out some overzealous security guards.
“It’s 4-20 today!” he yelled, referring to April 20, otherwise (unofficially) known as Marijuana Appreciation Day. “So that means this party is special. I don’t want to see nobody sitting down unless they’re rolling up.”
The crowd obeyed. As fans danced to Scott’s AutoTuned songs, including Wonderful and 3500, the smell of weed spread around the arena. You couldn’t ask for a better way to celebrate 4-20.