Posted in: Live Music by Lucia B on November 23rd, 2008 | 9 Comments
And here I thought the first foreign concert I’d attend to would be great. Tsk tsk.
Below is her opening song.
This next video is “Live Your Life”.
After Disturbia, she sang a series of unfamiliar songs that made the crowd quiet instead of making them groove to her music, perhaps people were also still mesmerized by her daring outfit and some of her dance moves.
Notice how quiet the crowd was in one of her songs below… Most people aren’t familiar with this song of hers so of course no one was singing along, dancing or even clapping or anything. People were just watching her strut her stuff. The only time people reacted to her performance was whenever she called out “Manila” or anything related to the Philippines or that particular concert. At one point Rihanna just had to melodiously say “…then make some [edited] noise!” to the crowd because everybody was just there standing and looking at her as she performed. But even after that statement the crowd was still quiet, with intermittent screaming every time Rihanna said “Manila” or something.
The last few songs she sang were the more familiar songs so at least people were finally able to “connect” with her. Fortunately we had some fun at the end. Chris Brown came out and performed along with Rihanna. I guess people bought tickets to see both of them sing together. Oh well, at least it happened at the end of the show.
Maybe I’m disappointed because I was looking forward to more outfit changes and stage performance from Rihanna. She only had three outfit changes, all of them black, and her performance was not really as spectacular as one would expect in a concert. Add the fact that we watched at a distance from the stage so we weren’t really as visually satisfied as those in the front. The only thing the concert produced were tired aching legs and not so satisfied fans.
The sound system also had some flaws though not so noticeable. Rihanna / Chris Brown sometimes couldn’t be heard singing but i guess it doesn’t really matter that much as long as we were visually being entertained.
All in all this concert may be a success to the producers and other people, but to the more musically exposed audience, it failed to deliver the most out of the expectations of thousands of fans. From a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, the concert was a mere 6.
anonymous November 30th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
actually, the song you thought was unfamiliar is one of her oldest songs. i think most people can’t connect because they can’t appreciate a song unless they become very popular. if you were an avid fan, you’d keep track of all their released hits. the song was pon de replay followed by paper planes originally performed by MIA. and about the outfit changing.. you can never compare her to beyonce.. each artist has their own style. she doesn’t have a designer mom who’d have great outfits planned out for a concert like beyonce usually does. and the technicals are one of the few things anyone couldn’t get a hold on very prim. i mean, there are other glitches which you can never control during concerts.. you wouldn’t know unless you’ve had your time on the hotseat. i think rihanna and chris brown deserves more credit than this.
Lucia B December 10th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Yep, that’s what i also think, people couldn’t connect to her during the concert because most weren’t really hard core fans. =)
After further web browsing I noticed most of the time Rihanna wears black in her concerts. I guess that’s her signature get up (wearing anything black).
maybe December 28th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
one thing you have to realize is that it is at the fort with 17k people i think? and open field? maybe next time you should try going to the event organizer and ask for refund?
consider logistics.
Lucia B January 8th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Ah but then Maybe my friend… if it were a really enjoyable concert, most people wouldn’t notice their aching feet and tired legs… They would be full of energy even up to the time they go home. =)
2cents worth January 24th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Being a veteran concert goer since my teen years (am now in my mid30s), I myself was surprised that this supposedly very danceable concert was such a dud…the audience can’t really connect with Rihanna (and vice-versa)…I was thinking maybe the sound system wasn’t as “powerful”…the technicians should have tweaked the sounds more in anticipation of the venue being open-air…or maybe it may be the fact that all of Rihannas songs have this “echoing vibrations of her voice” which was noticeably absent during her live-performance…hence the lackluster of it all…or the fact that Rihanna seemed to be just going through the motions without really feeling it…parang tamad na tamad na siya…
none of ya buisness February 5th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
i like rihanna and chris brown but not together =D…i jp im just sayin that kuz i love chris brown i was there right in the front but rihanna can sing and yall hater can suck ass cheeks
Lucia B February 11th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Yep Rihanna can indeed sing, nothing in this article or comments said she can’t… all we’re saying is the entire concert wasn’t as enjoyable as we had expected it should be.
Demme June 5th, 2009 at 2:05 am
Ok, Rihanna can’t sing, she may be trying to dance but man ou ant just gonna sit there and see some sucky singer dance. people shoulve just used thier money watchinf the Beyonce Experience. which became the bestConcert in manila for 2007.
Natalia December 27th, 2009 at 11:23 am
Madonna is still the best among them all. I decided not to watch the Rihanna concert anymore as I was coming in fresh from a Madonna show in America. Thank God I didn’t watch. Rihanna and Chris’ concert looked so low-tech, and musically, not much variety.
I was able to watch the Beyonce tour in 2007, but not in Manila…and boy did it suck.