Hey Glamazons!
Fresh off of the release of her new album, Rated R, Rihanna performed last night at the Hammerstein Ballroom here in NY. The free mini concert was part of Myspace Music's "The Release" concert series and I heard that fans started lining up as early as 7 a.m. to get their hands on tickets! Throngs of teenagers were pushing their way to the front of the line excited to hear the songtress perform songs live from her new album. (Or at least, that's what I overheard from the group of annoying people standing next to me. And please don't get me started on the two girls in front of me who thought it would be cute to sport mounds of weave and 8 inch heels at a concert...I mean, seriously, it's a concert...have a little bit of courtesy for the people around you! No one could see around that ish...ugh.)
After an introduction from Hot 97 DJ Angie Martinez, Rihanna finally took the stage at around 9:30 p.m. (The show was scheduled to start at 9 p.m.)
The stage set resembled something of a junkyard with it's piled up television screens and limbless half-naked silver mannequins. Rocking her newly blonde locks, the singer wore what seems to be her favorite garb nowadays: a silver leotard complete with fishnet tights and lots of ass cheeks. (Speaking of her ass cheeks, it looked as though the singer has an even gained a bit of weight; which is good because I thought she was looking a bit too skinny there for a moment haha)
She sang songs from her new album ('Hard' and 'Russian Roulette') as well as songs from her previous album ('Take A Bow' and 'Umbrella').
Overall, I'm proud of her for taking the stage so soon after the whole CB incident. It looks as though she's doing really well and off to a great start in taking back her life again.
However, I just don't think Rihanna is a great performer. I felt the show was lackluster and maybe she should look into adding in more choreography to her shows. (I mean, she didn't dance at all; she just walked around and headbanged when she wasn't sitting down. At least have some background dancers for your audience to look at!) She did do a good job of engaging her hard core fans in the front and even took off her black leather fingerless gloves and gave them to a girl in the audience.
Check out the video below that I recorded while there on my Flip camera (apologies for the thumping bass sound; these things aren't the best for sound and the lady I cut to is friend Jeannine Amber..she's an amazing writer!) and tell us what you think!
xo
Ferocia