Monday, February 23, 2009
So...last night...Sunday - what a GREAT way to kick off my birthday week!
I attended the Ne-Yo concert with Liz, Gleana and Monica. I know there are rumors, and hell, they may even be true - but I just want to go on record and say....Ne-Yo could get it! I mean, I never really looked at him like that before - but for real...he would get GOT.
...okay, back to that in a minute.
I scoop up Liz in Queens. We get to Radio City a little before 7p. We look for Gleana but she’s not there. Turns out Gleana is running snacks back from Duane Reade cuz Liz hadn't eaten all day...so sweet of you Glee! :-) We stand on the line waiting for Gleana while texting Monica letting her know we’re there. Monica is running a tad late because she thinks the concert starts at 8p. Gleana pops up on line and offers to wait for Monica in the lobby since she has the tickets. She hands Liz and I our tickets so we can grab our seats. I really wanted to make my way in because there was NO way I was missing Jazmine Sullivan!
We walk in and our seats are ALL the way down front. Awesome seats! Shout out to Gleana for the hook-up! Some wannabe Danity Kane group is performing...if you wanna call it that. The first thing we notice is that they were lip syncing. Cute girls though, a group called Electric Red. We barely paid them any attention as we watched the celebrities pouring in. I wasn’t sure it was Mary J. Blige until I saw Kendu roll up behind her. We sat a few rows behind MJB...and Anthony Anderson, and Kevin Liles, and The Dream. They all came out to show their support.
So Electric Red is finally finished. Gleana shows up saying that she just told Monica to text us when she got there since she was still about 15-20 minutes away. Gleana LOVES Jazmine Sullivan and wasn't trying to miss her, so she sits down next to me ready for our girl to come on.
Jazmine Sullivan killed it. I mean, gut wrenching, pouring out her soul KILLED IT. This young lady can SANG! She opened with “I Bust The Windows Out Your Car” and Mary gave her some fist pumps. The crowd was loving her, and so were we. This girl is the truth. A wonderful voice, a cute smile...her performance was amazing.
Monica got there just as Jazmine finished and we all felt bad that she missed her :-(
Next up - Musiq Soulchild. He has a cute mohawk, with his tiny self :-) He also gave a great performance - much better than the last time I saw him and better than I expected he’d be. He didn’t do much “talk-singing” as Amanda calls it, which was refreshing. I felt like he changed the melodies of a couple of his songs, so it was kinda hard to sing along even though I knew the words to every last song he sang. What can I say...being from Philly, I’m a fan. I like his style of music and his voice was great. He gave Mary a shout out and let his back-up singers sing her part in their duet. By the end of his set, Mary was up on her feet as he rocked out “B.U.D.D.Y.” Even Kendu was doing the wop :-) Musiq was wonderful!
So now we’re all waiting. Ne-Yo.
Laser lights, disco ball...his band was all dressed like it was the year of the gentlemen. He has a real horn section...aww sookie sookie now! He emerges and the crowd goes crazy! “We love you Ne-Yo!” Bunch of young girls behind us. How cute :-)
The first song...”My Addiction”...and we’re already standing up jamming. His voice sounds exactly the same as it does on his cds. And even though he’s dancing all around the stage sweatin' like a runaway slave, he doesn’t skip a beat or break a note. He’s smooth...and can dance his ass off!
What I loved about Ne-Yo is that he gave us a SHOW! He danced, ran around the stage, threw out roses, kissed women on the hand, told some funny little jokes and sang his heart out as he serenaded us. From “Sexy Love” to “Make it Work” to “Go On Girl” (I’m to fly to be depressed), slowly but surely I could see why all the young girls lost they damn mind...cuz I was now one of them. I turned to Gleana like, “let me find out Ne-Yo could get it!?”
His band was hot. They busted out into a funky jam session while Ne-Yo caught his breath and murdered it. Something about those horns did something to me, and you could feel the bass in your chest. Killed it!
So Ne-Yo asks the audience if we’re true Ne-Yo fans. I’m thinking, hell yeah...I know all his songs. But oh no no!...he doesn’t want us to sing the songs he’s singing. He wants us to sing the songs he’s written!
First one – “to the left, to the left...” We all know he wrote that for Beyonce.
"You look so dumb right now...."
wait...is that...?
"But it’s over now...go on and take a bow...” Oh snap! I didn’t know he wrote that song for Rihanna. Where have I been?! He gave her a shout out, “I love you babygirl!” No doubt showing his support after the Chris Brown incident.
But then he proceeds to sing Mario’s "Let Me Love You" and then Jennifer Hudson’s "Spotlight," both of which I had no idea he'd written. Ne-Yo betta go ahead and make that money! Every song he writes is a hit, and I was falling deeper.
After “Miss Independent,” all the women were on their feet. MJB was dancing all over the place - she wasn’t tryna be cute, she was getting her Ne-Yo on! He ended with “Come Closer” and he and his dancers tore it up! Standing ovation, clapping like a school girl screaming his name, I was hoping for an encore. But I guess he figured he'd given us what we came for after 75 minutes of pure Ne-Yo. I felt like he left it all out on the stage, and I was filled up by his performance. Great show!
I drove Gleana and Liz home to Brooklyn - can’t have my girls on the train late at night. Monica drove herself in, so she was straight. After I dropped Liz off, I found my Ne-Yo cd and blasted “My Addiction” like it was the very beginning of his concert. I thought I was a fan before, but now, I’m probably his BIGGEST fan. He can’t just write a mean song or make us swoon with his satiny voice. He can PERFORM. He’s an ENTERTAINER. And I’m hooked. I’m gonna be crushin' on him for AT LEAST another couple weeks.
Did I mention Ne-Yo could get it? ;-)
-b
