"Day after day, I continue to be - me oh me, that's all I can be..." Same Ol G - Ginuwine
Don't pay attention to the date, I just wrote this last night since I have to get up early to go to work. Whoo hooo. I really think I am enjoying the student life a bit too much. I decided to take a different twist with Monday Madness today. As I mentioned before, I began my summer concert series by attending the Ice Cream Tour concert on Saturday. The lineup included Ginuwine, Monica, Dru Hill, Joe and the headliner LL Cool J. The show was such bullshit, that I had to share the lowdown with you all. Imgaine, I saved all of my energy after being sick ALL DAMN WEEK for this crap. I so regret not going to my boys' Pride Brunch today, really I do. Trust me, for the exception of a few moments, I was not amused. Sorry, it's a bit long today. Alright, here we go..
When I arrived: I purchased my $3.25 water and made my way to the seats. Our seats were pretty decent actually, I can't complain. Untitled–yes, that is the name of the group, was the act that was on stage, they were actually one of the opening acts last year as well. However, they were nothing to talk about last year. I must say they upped the ante this year, they sounded much stronger vocally covering Silk's "Freak Me" and The Pedophile's "Bump N' Grind" and a whole array of old school tracks - but sorry, they did nothing for me. After them, there was a dance troop named Baby Boys that tore up the stage with their choreography to everything from reggae, soul, hip-hop, soca and the "start the car!" Ikea commercial. They were serious, on point and a pleasure to watch. The link was from a year ago, trust that their game has stepped up and then some.
Ginuwine: I have absolutely nothing negative to say about Ginuwine, he did the damn thing. He breezed through his jams one after the other and had everyone in the palm of his hand. Starting with my favorite "Same Ol' G" and working his way through "Stingy", "So Anxious" and ending with "Pony", he covered base and delivered track after track with strong vocals and lawd, he can still shake that ass. He did a quick little ditty with the songs he did hooks on with Diddy and Nas and also had the men reciting a creed that made every single women in the house croon (hint: it involved something about taking your woman if you don't know how to satisfy her ummm...PROPERLY). We were off to a good start.
Monica: Miss Thang confused the hell out of me and everyone else at the venue and you will see why in a moment. She started off where Ginuwine left off, proving to us what we already knew–she can sing CIRCLES around Brandy effortlessly. Monica is one of the most serious voices in R&B today, it is just a damn shame that she sings all of that ghetto mess instead of contributing those chops for some amazing R&B like she used to. But hey, that is just my opinion. Traipsing through everyone's favorites, "Don't Take It Personal", "Angel Of Mine" and "Why I Love You So Much" (my fav), she decided to ruin the flow and start singing "EveryTime The Beat Drop" and here is where it went sour. Because everyone wasn't really feeling the track and decided to sit down, she stopped the track saying to her dj, "Wait, hold up...I don't think they know that song. Guys, do you know that song?" Where obviously everyone replied yes, then she dropped "Umma Do Me" I believe it was (sorry, not too sure) and killed the vibe. From where I was sitting, it looked like her face went a solid blank because no one was feeling it. She was VEXED. So at that very moment, she decided to kiss the crowd GOODNIGHT after her hissy fit. WTF???
Dru: Dru of In Essence who has now embarked on a solo career sang his two tracks "The One" and "Stay With Me". Both tracks are pretty good and it was great to see Dru do his thing. I liked In Essence and was just saying the other day that I missed them when I heard "You Will Never Find Another" in a club in NYC. Toronto SUPPORT YOUR OWN!! That goes for you too Canada. If you can help my friend Corneille and Mr. Glen Lewis do the damn thing then let's get Dru going too. Get on it...
Dru Hill: Oh my my...lol It just get's better. First of all, who's bright idea was it to allow Sisqo to go on first and jump around to sing "I Got To Get It" and "The Thong Song"? I mean SERIOUSLY it is done and has been broken down so that it can FOREVER and consistently be broken - leave it alone Sisqo! No one even knew who it was before he opened his mouth! Jumping off of speakers and running around frantically onstage like he done lost his mind. Lawd. Finally the rest of the group showed up (minus Woody and plus a new member–Tao), and again, vocally they were amazing, but BORING. Something was missing and I just cannot put my finger on it. Besides the fact that I lost interest and sat down because I didn't care after the first version of "In My Bed" (they sang the remix too), it just lacked a certain je ne sais quois. They managed to grab my attention again when they sang "Beautiful", yet that was it. They kept on taking a 3 minute song and making it 7 minutes with their ad libs, riffs and dips. Dru Hill was mediocre at best, but I could have done without them.
Joe: THE BEST PART OF MY NIGHT!! It should have been just Joe in concert really, that would have been downright perfect for me and for everyone else I am sure. His mic was doing something stupid at first and the bass was pumping a bit too hard throughout the whole show, but after a few adjustments my man Joe did his thing from song to song. The crowd was swaying to and fro singing each song word for word. "All The Things Your Man Won't Do", "Don't Wanna Be A Player", "More", "If I Was Your Man", one after the other he was singing as though it was his last show. The one song I did want to hear was "I'm In Love" because I am a Joe fan after all, but beggars cannot be choosers and I was quite happy with what I received, but I wanted more!
We were then of course treated to the sounds of old school from DJ extraordinaire, Christopher Michaels and for you all that don't know, you better ask somebody! IF you ever make it down to Toronto and you are looking for a DJ who will serenade you to the dance floor and command your feet to never leave...if you can handle that, then ChrisMikes is your man. I went to an old school party of his when I first moved to Toronto and it was one of the best parties I have ever attended in a club setting. So as you can imagine, song after song I was on my feet dancing and singing (and choking in between) from my recovering lungs. It was WICKED. After that high, you would think that we would be ready for LL? Well, the vicinity we were in decided that they would have their Canada Day fireworks and Mr Cool James said he was not going to be interrupted by them, so we had to wait for them to finish before he come on stage. To make matters worse, we were already waiting a good 20 minutes before hand for his ass and there is only so much music you can listen to when you are at a concert waiting for a performance. So hmmm...let's see, about an hour later...
And lastly LL Cool J: HE WAS HORRIBLE and I am so disappointed! Flavor Flav introduced him (do NOT get me started on the black man who is single handedly destroying black television along side BET). LL was boring, did not go near "Around The Way Girl" or "Going Back To Cali", I can only stare at him licking his lips for so long and he did not get naked. Sorry, like some ladies said at the end–it's LL for god's sake, and we did not even see one ab!! We all think he had a hissy fit a la Monica and decided to leave the stage after he did not receive the welcome he wanted. Well that's what happens when a crowd is hyped up, comes to a fevered pitch and is let down to crash and burn waiting for your ass after a display of mutha &!@#@^? fireworks. Looks good on ya...
I have a few videos for you, but you know how Blogger and I flow. As soon as I get it together, I will share. I mean, I just HAD to get Dru Hill jumping around like the kangaroos they are to "Tell Me", it's classic Dru! Anyhow, that was my Saturday and like I said–I so should have saved my strength for the Pride Parade today and support my gay friends. I would have had more fun and been with lovely hunney bunneys!! Oh well, woulda, shoulda, coulda right?
Flashback of the day: I had to go for my jam that LL DID NOT sing (damn him), but oh well what can we do.
If you were at the concert, I would love to hear what you thought! See y'all soon...
Tha Connoisseur
No comments:
Post a Comment