Experience: Watch the Throne Concert

Seeing both Jay Z and Kanye perform on separate occasions, I had been anticipating the day that both tour together in a full set.  Though I was excited to get the Watch the Throne album, the reason I really heard about the album was because of the tour.  There was no mistake on whether the chicken or the egg came first.  The tour was both for me.  The energy that I knew would come from this tour was all I needed; they could have sang their entire catalog and chanted whatever the people from Occupy Wall Street are chanting, and I would have been just as excited.

Swank Review: Beyonce at Roseland Ballroom

 

There is nothing like a good live show; bands, background vocals, minimal track play, and a performer who can dance, project energy AND sing live. Usually, the smaller the venue, the better the performance because you get a more stripped down version of the singer, without all the extravagant, sometimes overbearing props and production. With red lights, “Diddy” smoke (we’ll get to him soon) and white accessories (from pianos to saxophones), Beyonce puts on an intimate performance that made even a fan without her album sing along with conviction.


Before entering the Roseland Ballroom, the journey begins in line, which seems to have begun around 1pm and wrapped around 52nd street, crossing both Broadway and Seventh Ave. The homeless and any other tired person in New York had a field day with all the lounge chairs left behind as fans had to leave them on the curb before entering the venue. We enter the ballroom, after getting samples of Beyonce’s new fragrance and a ring flashlight (clearly she is doing Single Ladies as part of her set), head to the ballroom where a DJ is spinning a dope mix of songs that took me back to a time before I was even born! After hitting all the notes to Stevie Wonder’s “All I Do” and pumping my fist to Rob Base “It Takes Two,” the balcony begins to fill up.

The balcony turns out to be a nest of industry professionals and special guests (though the venue was so intimate nearly everyone was special just to even get through the ticket process). First to enter was Mr. Terius “The Dream” Nash,” who was definitely excited to be there. Waving to the crowd, pouring Ciroc, and wearing his ring light (clearly he is proud of the songs he writes; I would too), The Dream proved that even artists can appreciate the talent and power of other artists. With the DJ still spinning (and The Dream still jamming his heart out), the crowd begins yet another roar. Looking over, it’s Diddy walking to the balcony. Blue and white striped polo, shades (of course) and that big Diddy smile, he shows love to the crowd and mingles in with the industry crew. Among the industry crew emerges the man who I think is THE industry, and that is Jimmy Iovine. This is when I realize that this show is about to be amazing; the mere fact that the entire who’s who of music is attending your show in the same night proves that you are a force in entertainment. Jimmy Iovine was enough for me, so after I screamed for him to mentor me “American-Idol” style, in walks Russell Simmons and Ne-Yo.

The balcony is super full now, and the DJ plays this countdown… no, not from Beyonce’s CD, but a countdown as if she is about to come on stage. The crowd goes crazy, but nobody comes on stage… then… “New York State of Mind” comes on, and it just felt as is someone was missing from the crowd… not anymore! In all black everything, here comes Jay-Z and the crowd goes ballistic! Now the crowd is complete and moments later the band enters the stage.

Yes, all of the above happened over the course of three hours, hence the amount of paragraphs needed to truly sum up the experience.

OK, showtime. After a smooth, jazzy sound check by the band (which I hoped lasted longer because it was amazing), the red lights and Diddy smoke go away, and in walks Beyonce, in a metallic leotard (with stomach covered… hmmm will there be pregnancy rumors swirling again??) in full Sasha Fierce mode - though I think Sasha left after the first five minutes. She begins the show with her journey to becoming the star she is. Many of you may be familiar with this part of the set, as she has been doing it since her BDay tour. She starts the set with the Jackson 5’s “I Wanna be Where you Are” and takes us through her years from pre-Destiny’s Child to Destiny’s Child to “Who are those other two new chicks”, to the New Destiny’s Child.

Then begins her set as THE Beyonce, performing Crazy in Love, Single Ladies, and Irreplaceable to name a few. She and her dancers are rockin’ it out, and I notice that there are only three dancers behind her. Aside from wanting to know the words to songs from “4”, my major question of the night was..”Where is the Asian dancer??” I kind of live for her; I think it’s the fact that she has to sew in a curly fro weave, which is pretty amazing.

Beginning her set from the album 4, she starts with 1+1 on top of the piano, belting an emotional arrangement of the song with her beau only 50ft away. She continues with a chronological rundown of her new album, adding runs and notes more powerful that what’s on the original tracks. As someone not familiar with the entire album, I do have a few tracks that I know and love, which happen to be “Sucks to Be You”, “Til the End of Time,” and “I Miss You,”so during her 4 set, I patiently waited for these songs so that I could sing along with the rest of the crowd. Beyonce’s strongest, and what seemed to be the most vocally straining performance was to “Love on Top,” at which she had to have increased octaves at least three times more than on the original track. After the song, she had to take a sip of water, and all she could say was simply. .”Damn.” I think we all felt that way after that one!

After more energetic performances of “Til the End of Time” and “Who Run the World,” (yes, my Asian dancer finally came out!) Beyonce ends the show with an emotional, powerful performance of “I Was Here,” in which she changed the final chorus to “We Were Here.” A fitting end to the show, and after such a powerful performance, there was no need to scream for an encore; the work was finished.

What I appreciated most about the show was that it gave such a personal attribute to Beyonce. In a venue so small in comparison to her level of celebrity and success, you were really able to see how much she truly enjoys her job. From laughing at some of her own dance moves, to even being taken aback when the audience started singing “Countdown” before she could even get “Ten” out of her mouth, she gave us a look inside of the true Beyonce. Sasha Fierce wasn’t in the building except for the first entrance, and it was a pleasure to see her beyond the mask that her fame puts in front of her. I didn’t leave the concert feeling moved or reflective by any sense of depth, but I did leave with a crazy admiration for her craft, and how it influences her musical peers and biggest fans alike.

photos: Quentin D. Washington's small camera

Celebration of Gospel: Awesome Performances, Sub-Par Style

BET's Celebration of Gospel aired on Sunday, and though it showcased some talented performances, the fashion was questionable and scary at times. I sometimes wonder if it is a flaw in the Gospel Industry where their craft blinds them from what's "IN" in fashion. I know for a fact that God looks to our inner appearance. I know it, and I am so thankful. But He also gives us wisdom, understanding, and Discernment. Which means that those who Sing about Him should use these gifts in ALL accounts, to include their sense of style. We had Yolanda Adams in a peace-sign shirt and liquid leggings, Bobby Jones in Bubble Wrap, and Y'Anna Crawley with a terrible repilca of the exaggerated shoulder trend. Furthermore, the night ended with Donald Lawrence in a cream suit with vines and/or Christmas Light embellishment.

Photos: BET.com

The worst of the night had to be Bobby Jones and Y'Anna Crawley who performed together.

We start with Dr. Bobby Jones in bubble wrap - A costume that only Lady Gaga could master..

Then we have the Talented Y'Anna Crawley come out with this Wizard/Snow White/Cinderella play gown - it was a very ameteur attempt to create the exaggerated shoulder. If its too expensive to work a trend, then don't do it! Sometimes DIY goes wrong, and this was definitely the case. Her hair is great, her voice is ALWAYS on point, but I couldn't get past that dress. I had the sudden urge to take a child swimming.. talk about floaties!

I would like to give a kudos to CeCe Winans who wore a very nice black dress - very Halston-esque.

And, to Yolanda Adams for her Red Carpet look - Much wiser than her performance look

Jay - Z Concert feat T.I.

"Push.. Money over Broads You got It______ Bush" If you want to know what was said, look at the pic below, and look and see what finger the chick is holding up on the right side of the pic...

The weekend started off great with a visit back to my old high school for our Homecoming game in which we won. The very next day, I travelled back to my other Alma mater, the University of Virginia, for the highly anticipated Jay-Z Concert. Highly anticipated for a number of reasons: One being that its Jay-Z (duh), and secondly this is his first EVER concert in Virginia... now we all know that he used to "Work" down in VA back in the day, but lets say this was his first legal tour here in the great election battleground state of Virginia (Obama '08).

The Concert was held at the John Paul Jones Arena, which has quickly become a venue of choice for larger acts coming to the Virginia Area. As we slowly approached the basketball area, we caught a glimpse of this mob of people running up the hill to get in this gigantic line to get it. We thought that the line was for those who didn't have pre-paid parking like we did, but no... this was the actual line to get into the JPJ Arena. Needless to say, we ended up staying in this swarm of people (I can't call it a line because there was no line system at all) for at least 20 minutes.

Because of the long wait to enter the JPJ, I missed Santogold's opening act. I did end up getting into the Arena in time to see that she was indeed wearing something from Urban outfitters, and her background singers/dancers had on shiny gold tights and nylon jackets. I really do hope Santogold has some type of contract with Urban Outfitters, or maybe she is a spokesperson for Hipsters United..

Anyways, I walk into the Arena and immediately saw people from high school and college - more high school friends than the previous night at homecoming, and I can only imagine that all the UVA alum that came back for the concert will not be at homecoming next weekend. After saying my hellos, the lights go off and its time for T.I (and TIP). There is never a dull moment when T.I. is on stage. His energy is ridiculous, and he performs all of his songs as if his life depended on it.. as if he is on his way to jail or something.. oh wait....

There must be alot of haters that allegedly hate on T.I. because he was sure to inform us of all of his haters and motivators and many of his songs were in tribute to such haters.. In any case, I loved his performance and I am was glad that "Whatever you Like" didn't sound awkward when he was singing like it was on the MTV Music Awards... Big up to TI for wearing a UVA hat as well!

So its time for Jay-Z, and I already had a inclination that I wold be seeing the same set at what I saw a couple months ago at the Africa Rising Festival, and essentially I was correct. I loved his performance last night much better though, because the sound system was 100 times better, and the energy of the crowd was more in tune to Hip Hop than at Africa Rising... I can't even name all the songs he did, and I could only start naming a few songs that he didn't do that I wanted to hear (Allure, Can't Knock the Hustle, Sunshine, Who You Wit, etc.).

He was trying to smooth his set out, and almost performed "Excuse Me Miss", but apparently someone in the audience didn't know how to cool it out, so Jay cut that song out and went to Song Cry... He threatened to shorten his set, and the cameraman panned in to Jay's foot to show the paper taped the stage.. These shoes he had on.... SICK!!! They were some black and white Dunks, and the square around the check was a black and white plaid... I have seen the blue and red ones similar to this, but never the black and white ones... I was in total shock when I saw the shoes so I couldn't get my camera out in time..

The biggest surprise was to see DJ AM on stage the whole concert! I thought it was him initially, but I thought that surely he wouldn't be touring around after being in a plane crash and suffering life threatening burns less than a month ago.... but it was really him!

To look in the audience and see a large array of cultures in one arena for a hip hop concert was a bit surreal, but of course it made me think about whats gonna happen when Obama wins the election and narrow minded people have to live and face the facts that You don't have to be a white man to run the US, and you can still be cool even when people think you're a Muslim.. Oh yeah, please believe I scanned the arena the whole time to make sure the N word didn't slip out of anyone's mouth that "shouldn't" say it (although I don't think anyone should say the word regardless of who "owns" it or not... thats another convo that won't be had here thanks.)

OK, so when can we expect a tour with Jay Z and Beyonce together? And could that concert not cost $400 in this time of economic crisis please?!?! Start workin' on that one Jigga

Glow in the Dark Tour

Sunday was a celebration of Mothers, Graduates, and the Glow in the Dark Tour! My homie from waaay back, and designated concert tour partner Tierra and I went to VA Beach to the concert (mind you, the whole drive there was during a horrible storm). Of course, I had to demonstrate my love for the style of all four acts (Lupe, N.E.R.D. Rihanna, and Kanye) and despite the rain, wore my new Glow in the Dark Dunks for the concert. I almost took it back to the days in high school when we wouldn't walk in the rain in new shoes unless they were covered in plastic bags! Leave me a comment if you remember those days (should only be a memory...don't start doing it again!)

Anyways, as soon as we walk in, bypass the guy checking bags for cameras, and get our seats, Lupe Fiasco took the stage at 6:30 SHARP (the Amphitheater does NOT play when it comes to being prompt). Normally, I advise people not to wear the same color from head to toe, but Lupe's all red outfit, all the way down to his Gourmet Sneakers, was SICK! Lupe killed the stage, despite the microphone difficulties in his first act, performing his hits "Kick Push," "Go Go Gadget Flow", "Daydreamin", "Hip Hop Saved my Life",and "Paris, Tokyo." He didn't do my song (Go Baby), but his show was excellent! At this time, the crowd wasn't full so I couldn't pull the camera out like I wanted to.. I did happen to sneak this pic..

Next to come out was my boy Pharrell and N.E.R.D. RIDICULOUS!!!!! They were full of energy and got the whole crowd up in the air! Fam-Lay came out and "attempted" to perform HIS song.. and forgot the lyrics... uhhh are you serious Fam? You have 2 popular songs, and you forget the lyrics of one of them... BUT, after that incident, N.E.R.D. performed their Spazz song.. and who comes out to Spazz out with them??? None other than another VA Native Chris Brown! He is in the middle.

Of course I am still trying to figure out if he came for 1. to Rep VA with Pharrell, or 2. to support his "friend (yeah right)" Rihanna. I may conclude that it was a bit a both....

So anyways, after singing the song in my head all the way to the concert, they finally let the beat drop, and all I heard was "ALL THE GIRLS STANDING IN THE LINE FOR THE BATHROOM!" LOL I love that song!!

Oh, this is where I inform you that we were in the middle of a Tornado watch, and after N.E.R.D. performed, the crowd looks behind them and there is this HUGE BLACK CLOUD, along with high winds and lightening... great... but did that stop the show?? Not a chance!!

OK, so after that energetic performance, we endure the storm in waiting to Rihanna's stage to get set up. I have to tell you that I was a bit skeptical for her performance, because I thought that it must be a reason she doesn't really perform live (such as, she can't sing live) ... She proved me wrong! First off, let me express how fly I think Rihanna is... her style is crazy! Very modern Asian inspired, which is always hot. Please check out the pics I have of her reflector pants that totally glow in the dark, as well as those boots!!

She didn't sing her new single "Take a Bow" but she did rip "Unfaithful" like her life depended on it (or maybe Chris Breezy's). Since the concert was in the middle of a storm, we were all prepared for when she sang "Umbrella."

She started it with just acoustics, describing it as her favorite song on the album.. her "talk while the acoustic starts and then have the audience sing before the beat drops" was very Beyonce "Irreplaceable" from her tour if you ask me.. but hey, whatever works...

By now, the winds and rain had ended and the sky started clearing up... just in time for Kanye

As I was waiting, I met up wit my boy Julian and his sis Brittani, and saw a huge ill Fashion No-No: I was going to post the pic of the perp, but I decided not to... I don't want this site to exploit the bad decisions people make.. but we WILL talk about it! People, the whole "groupies come in scandalous clothes in 50 degree weather and sit in regular seats" methodology no longer works... so if you want to be a groupie, 1. Log on to Avenue Swank to see what guys like, 2. learn how to dress, 3. act like you aren't really a groupie, and 4. get some VIP passes.. it will make life a lot easier. You probably feel embarrassed too since the girls that were pulled on stage Sunday night all had on jeans and light sweaters... I mean after all it was COLD and RAINING!

So now the lights go out and its time to Glow in the Dark. Tierra and I predicted that his entry would be a remix of Stronger in which you continually hear the bass line and Daft Punk's chorus for the song.

We were absolutely right. Kanye's set was hot (even though they couldn't hang some screens due to the tornado watch), and of course he pours his heart out on stage. This guy, though cocky, performs as if his life depends on it! That's true drive! His shoes though... his SHOES.... AAAAAAAAH!

I wish my camera could have focused better under these lighting conditions...These Nikes looked like a morph between the Bo Jacksons, Huaraches, and some ill custom design that Yeezy thought of. Not to mention they glowed in the dark (so glad I wore the shoes I had on).

Kanye did an excellent job though. Despite the rain and drama with the weather, his show rocked and the whole audience (even the people who had lawn seats and got completely drenched) were full of energy throughout his entire set. This guy even started stepping and party hoppin' to "Flashing Lights"! He had a whole routine and everything! I thought he was going to break down and cry during "Mama" but he didn't and he talked about that situation saying: "I know people don't do it with negative intentions, but I'm OK, and when people text me saying 'I know you are down today since its Mother's Day, I'm like 'How do you know???" That was his deep convo for the night. He ended with "Touch the Sky" (And that hot yellow jacket pictured above).

The radio station apparently gave the show a bad review, saying that he didn't mention VA, nor did he thank the audience for coming... They must have been at the Kanye EAST concert, because:

1. In "Good Life" he says "It feels like VA" and when he got to that part he kind of paused and waited for the audience's reaction...

2. At the end of the concert, he thanked the beautiful audience for coming out and enduring the tornado watch to support the show

For those that have been to the concert, leave a comment and let me know if Chris Brown showed up to your show. For those who may be going to his concert within the coming weeks.. let me know if he does anything differently!