MySpace Music extended their streak of bringing the biggest stars to NYC through the Urban Concert Series THE RELEASE. The Hammerstein Ballroom housed 500+ energetic fans, all which received a free ticket at that, not to mention the streaming video that went LIVE around the world, to see ROC Nations Princess, DEF JAM recording artist, Rihanna. Rihanna was in town to promote her latest album Rated R. The Rated R superstar sold 181,000 copies in the first week. And with Saturday Night Live waiting in the wings, last nights performance was a sign of what was to come tomorrow night. An amazing plus to this performance was the intimacy of it all. Rihanna was given the opportunity to be up close and personal with her fans, eye to eye, almost in reaching distance from where ever you stood. But if it was up to this beautiful talent, youd just have to Wait Your Turn. Rihanna hit the stage with unshakable confidence. And why shouldnt she? She is clearly in the best shape of her life, with an undeniable fashion sense and a sex appeal that pulls you in. The Wait is Over, she sung to a packed house, that was well, waiting. I would say that good things come to those who wait, but didnt she turn bad last album? Rihanna took a seat at mid-center stage to sing her lead single Russian Roulette. The silver chair spun as Rihanna delved deeper into a love that was life threatening, written by multi-platinum singer/songwriter, Ne-Yo. The stage went red with pain as the crowd sung along to the heart pounding ballad. Rihanna rose to her feet for the bridge and once again, the crowd just ate it up. Now I must say that a little more time in sound check would have done well for the total ambiance. But still in all, Rihanna held it down nicely. Speaking of the Good Girl, Gone Bad, the next song Please Dont Stop the Music was more of an upbeat performance. Rihanna danced from one end of the stage to the other as her fans threw their hands in the air and pulled out their best moves. Next, Take a Bow found Rihanna sitting on a stool, front and center stage, and emotionally belting out lyrics that may have more meaning today than they ever had. Last but not least, Rihanna finished the set with Disturbia which was remixed in a way that slowed the uptempo hit down into an R&B ballad. This performance would switch speeds but remained dark. To close out the show, Rihanna delivered two crowd favorites. She performed her new single Hard, which practically everybody in attendance sung along with, word for word. The song is just catching on. Last week, Hard was the #1 most added record at both the Pop and Urban radio formats, and was the Greatest Gainer at Rhythm. It has a strong Hip-Hop influence to it, with or without the Jeezy appearance. You know that a Rihanna concert wouldnt be complete without hearing the most successful song of her early career, Umbrella. What threw me was the fact that members of the crowd actually opened up umbrellas during the performance. Weird, right? I think so, because it sure wasnt raining in the Big Apple last night. But thats cool, to each its own. Overall, from the fans perspective, it was all smiles and satisfaction. Free tickets to see Rihanna was a win/win for them. I wouldve liked for the performance to be longer than 30 minutes though. She left a lot of good music on stage and this wouldve been the perfect forum to run down Rated R from start to finish. I would take an educated guess that her voice was saved for the first Saturday Night Live performance of her career this weekend.
MySpace Music extended their
streak of bringing the biggest stars to NYC through the Urban Concert
Series THE RELEASE. The Hammerstein Ballroom housed 500+ energetic
fans, all which received a free ticket at that, not to mention the streaming
video that went LIVE around the world, to see ROC Nations Princess,
DEF JAM recording artist, Rihanna.
Rihanna was in town to
promote her latest album Rated R. The Rated R superstar
sold 181,000 copies in the first week. And with Saturday Night Live
waiting in the wings, last nights performance was a sign of what was
to come tomorrow night. An amazing plus to this performance was the
intimacy of it all. Rihanna was given the opportunity to be up close
and personal with her fans, eye to eye, almost in reaching distance
from where ever you stood. But if it was up to this beautiful talent,
youd just have to Wait Your Turn. Rihanna hit the stage with
unshakable confidence. And why shouldnt she? She is clearly in the
best shape of her life, with an undeniable fashion sense and a sex appeal
that pulls you in. The Wait is Over, she sung to a packed house,
that was well, waiting. I would say that good things come to those
who wait, but didnt she turn bad last album?
Rihanna took a seat at mid-center
stage to sing her lead single Russian Roulette. The silver chair
spun as Rihanna delved deeper into a love that was life threatening,
written by multi-platinum singer/songwriter, Ne-Yo. The stage went red
with pain as the crowd sung along to the heart pounding ballad. Rihanna
rose to her feet for the bridge and once again, the crowd just ate it
up. Now I must say that a little more time in sound check would have
done well for the total ambiance. But still in all, Rihanna held it
down nicely.
Speaking of the Good Girl,
Gone Bad, the next song Please Dont Stop the Music was more
of an upbeat performance. Rihanna danced from one end of the stage to
the other as her fans threw their hands in the air and pulled out their
best moves. Next, Take a Bow found Rihanna sitting on a stool,
front and center stage, and emotionally belting out lyrics that may
have more meaning today than they ever had. Last but not least, Rihanna
finished the set with Disturbia which was remixed in a way that
slowed the uptempo hit down into an R&B ballad. This performance
would switch speeds but remained dark.
To close out the show, Rihanna
delivered two crowd favorites. She performed her new single Hard,
which practically everybody in attendance sung along with, word for
word. The song is just catching on. Last week, Hard was the #1
most added record at both the Pop and Urban radio formats, and was the
Greatest Gainer at Rhythm. It has a strong Hip-Hop influence to it,
with or without the Jeezy appearance.
You know that a Rihanna concert
wouldnt be complete without hearing the most successful song of her
early career, Umbrella. What threw me was the fact that members
of the crowd actually opened up umbrellas during the performance. Weird,
right? I think so, because it sure wasnt raining in the Big Apple
last night. But thats cool, to each its own.
Overall, from the fans perspective,
it was all smiles and satisfaction. Free tickets to see Rihanna was
a win/win for them. I wouldve liked for the performance to be longer
than 30 minutes though. She left a lot of good music on stage and this
wouldve been the perfect forum to run down Rated R from start
to finish. I would take an educated guess that her voice was saved for
the first Saturday Night Live performance of her career this weekend.
