Roses y Handcuffs

I Am Music Tour

Posted 12/23/2008 at 5:37 PM  |  1 comment/s

Onstage, Sunday night, at the Gibson Amphitheater, the coquettish Miss. Keri Hilson opened the "I Am Music" Tour by introducing herself with Timbaland's "The Way I Are"- the track that put Miss Keri on the closest field of vision to many. Even though Hilson quickly skimmed through her first single, "Energy," she still captivated the audience with her sensual, striking vocals. Hilson took her time with "Slow Dance," slyly taking off her neon green hoodie from underneath her mid-drift leather jacket. She lured the audience with her diamond studded brassiere and an enticing one-on-one dance with the mic stand. Hilson transitioned to her most recent single, "Turnin Me On," at which all eyes followed her every lean. After her 5-7 minute tease of a stage performance, Hilson had all the gents (and ladies) craving for...one more song (what did you think I was going to say??)

Should have also performed: "No. 1 Sex" feat. R.Kelly

Afterwards, the golden rock-studded act Gym Class Heroes took the stage. Travis fingered the audience to come closer as they began to perform "Home." Before going onto to "Cupid's Chokehold," Travis coyly joked about his love for girlfriend Katy Perry, "I'm so in love that I'm ready to go on Oprah and say, "Fuck your couch Oprah, I'm in love." As the guitars cringed, the synths of "Cookie Jar" rose the audience out from their seats.

Should have also performed: "Viva La White Girl" feat. Lil Wayne

Only minutes later, Oakland songstress Keyshia Cole strutted on the stage in a jeweled 1920's Flapper-inspired one-piece, embodying every word to her intro to her fourth album release, A Different Me, "I would like to introduce a sexier side of me...a different me." Keyshia danced, full of glee, through out her entire set which covered tracks from new tracks "No Other" and "Playa Cardz Right" to her first single "I Changed My Mind" from The Way It Is. It was four years ago -Sept. 2004 to be exact - when Kanye West introduced Keyshia, an unknown songstress at the time, to perform that very same song ["I Changed My Mind"] in her hometown Oakland, CA. But it was Keyshia's late passionate tracks as "Love" and "Heaven Sent" that had the entire audience religiously reciting every word and every sigh. The thunderous screams intensified as Keyshia closed her set with "Let It Go."

A circus began to unfold, as the right side of the stadium was stunned and busy trying to decipher if the man who ran through the crowd was Diddy (which was). Rising red and yellow striped tents planted expectancy for what would be the most entertaining, surreal performance of the night. After crunk dancers and camouflage-geared dwarfs (is that the correct term??) wilded out, T-Pain walked out through the flaps of one of the tents.T-Pain was then joined by the rest of his circus talent, which included flame throwers, women on stilts, belly dancers, crunk dancers and costumed dwarfs. Teddy Pain covered most of all his own penned tracks, and the abundance of tracks he can claim in some manner. Pain feathered the keys and sang (sounding surprisingly astounding) "Buy U A Drank" and "Can't Believe It."

In a red velvet cape, and a top hat to match, Ring Leader T-Pain introduced a Pop princess who recently debuted a circus-theme titled album herself. Laughter and applause thundered through out the audience, as a blonde dwarf, Britney Spears impersonator, stormed out, dressed in the infamous "Oops I Did It Again" red leather cat suit. Which was genius. T-Pain closed his set, with a humorous motto, as he does at every show, changing it every week, "so the haters don't catch on": "Don't do it because its' cool. Do it because you cool."

Should have also performed: "Therapy" feat. Kanye West

After T-Pain's rambunctious circus act, purple curtains rose, as well as the crowd's anticipation. Wayne's band performed on rising and falling platforms, as Lil Wayne's blinking eye awkwardly (and somewhat disturbing) appeared on the jumbo screen from behind. Lil Wayne ran out on DJ Khaled's "Out Here Grindin." Before performing tracks from infamous mixtapes, as The Leak, to certified recent release Tha Carter III, Wayne brought out T-Pain for a fight over the title for "Featured King of 2008." After questioning the audience on who's collaborated track held higher ranking, both Weezy and T-Pain, "T-Wayne" called truce as they performed "He rap, He sang." After a wardrobe change into grey skinny jeans and a black fitted, Wayne was joined by talent from Young Money Entertainment: Mack Mane, Little Chuckie and Nicki Minaj. R&B upcoming artist Shanell showcased her vocals on the intro to "Misunderstood" and Drake (Jimmy Brooks from Degrassi) played the part of Bobby Valentino on "Ms. Officer."

Weezy F. Baby catered to majority of the audience (2/3 of the audience being white females and males,under the age of 25) by mostly performing tracks from Tha Carter III. Throughout the performance of "Lollipop" and "Milli" the crowd was more entertained grinding with the stranger to the left of them. Wayne re-introduced Keri Hilson to perform "Turnin Me On" once again. He caught himself saying "ooh wee," under his breath, as his eyes followed Keri off stage.

Wayne delivered a few golden coins to the true fanatics scarcely present, by performing "Tha Block is Hot" and "I'm Me." Surprisingly Weezy toned down the rock star glow which has been exaggeratedly present in previous performances. Instead, Weezy passionately sang, especially on "Shoot Me Down" which at one point he kneed to praise God. Wayne closed the show with his signature finale: standing center stage, with arms outstretched, as Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love you" trembled the amps.

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