Showing posts with label concert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concert. Show all posts

28 May 2009

Beyoncé 'I Am...' World Tour Concert Review

I will always speak the truth no matter what. And I'm about to speaketh da truffus now.

I don't go to many live shows because I like to spend my money on artists who I believe are worth seeing. I've seen Brandy [don't ask, that was a loooooooooong time ago], Linkin Park with Jay-Z, Mariah Carey [twice], New Kids on The Block, Prince and Beyoncé. Come September I'm going to see Coldplay with Jay-Z at Wembley Stadium.

Mariah is my favourite female artist, Linkin Park my favourite group and Prince my favourite male artist. I saw him at the same venue, London's O2, two years ago and the man was stellar. Just stellar. He's one of those artists if he's doing a show in Vegas or China it's well worth just going and making a vacation out of it. Who would top Prince in terms of entertainment value on stage? It would be hard to top Prince.

Although, Beyoncé topped him, and she trounced Mariah as far as live shows go. Now I've been a Mimi fan for close to 20 years. So you know I'm being unbiased if I'm saying Bey gave a better show than Mariah ever could.

Costumes, stage productions, dancers, vocal ability on stage all hands down beat Mariah. I can't even front. Yes my girl can hit high notes galore, but the power behind Bey's voice, I'll just have to stand up and give her her rightful props. Seriously.

Live, Mariah sounds as good as the album.
Live, Beyoncé sounds better than the album.

I have all of Mariah live concerts on DVD and VHS [as only true fans would] and the last one 'The Adventures of Mimi' WTF was that? I am STILL MAD about that DVD. I've watched it once and was disappointed as hell, never played it again. Vision of Love performed like what? Stage costumes looking like who? Listen and watch below and see why I'm vex. Mariah has lacked live vocally for some years now. I'll always give her comeback credit and being in the game for so long, and having broken as many records as she has, but after seeing Bey on Monday night, she has nothing to worry about with anyone coming to steal her shine.



It's not until a video montage of Destiny's Child and solo efforts are played that you realise the magnitude of what she's done musically in 12 years and still a few years shy of 30. It dawned on me that this girl literally is a global superstar. But you can't knock her hustle, cause she's doing it, and doing it well.

She strutted, she flew, she dipped, she twerked, she popped, she floated, she got crunk during the 2 hour show as well as delivering vocally on point. The vocals that really stood out for me was during 'Ava Maria' if you've seen the live show, you'll know what I'm talking about.

*Note to Mariah...bring that full voice back, cause the whispers ain't cutting it.

Bey has a very strong and confident voice. Her vocal ability seems effortless, and how she remembers all those dance moves during a show is beyond me.

She performed Single Ladies just like in the video, and came out to a Deja Vu/Crazy in Love medley doing the infamous booty shake dance to the "uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, na na na" parts and gave the crowd what they wanted and then some.

I knew I was going to be entertained at this concert, which is one of the main reasons I bought a ticket. After seeing her in a humble non-Sasha light on the X-Factor with Alexandra Burke in December I started to warm to her a little. I was not a 'hater' of Beyoncé's, I was just a truth talker on 'the forum' if she irked me I made my point clear. I take NONE of it back and won't. I still think after this tour she needs to take a break from the performing and albums for a minute cause too much Bey can be overkill and has been for the past decade or so.

But you know something, I can see why she won't siddown. Just for a second I wish I had pushy parents who forced me to dance and sing and become a huge superstar, because performing that show looked like a hell of a lot of fun. After seeing that would I like to be Bey for a day. I think I would. It was pure energy, even during the ballads.

I think you get the gist that I loved this show, and really do not think it'll be my last Beyoncé concert in my lifetime. I HAVE TO see her again live.

Whether you like her or not, [and I steered toward the 'not so much' side] seeing her live is one of those shows you have to see before she hits MJ status talking about an end of the road tour.

I was on the floor section in B1 and directly to my right I noticed her cousin/PA Angela Beyincé, I also noticed a former Top of the Pops dancer, and also Sade. Yep Sade was in the house. Now this woman needs a new look. Same tired ponytail, red lips and hoop earrings.

She's coming out with a new album this year. *YAWN* I can't stand Sade's music, Americans love her. I find her so, so dry, and her music is only good for background music after a dinner party, where you and your friends are at the coffee stage before calling it a night. The only songs I liked of hers were 'No Ordinary Love' and 'By Your Side.' I remember watching a concert of hers Live in San Francisco, standing there barefoot, looking gorgeous but just dull. Oh my days.

She did look beautiful and flawless, I'll give her that much. Hmmm...but I wonder if she's still wanted in Jamaica?

After all that, I gotta give Ms Knowles her props! A consummate professional and a great show 10/10.

And who woulda thought and from me of all people.

27 May 2009

Beyoncé 'I Am...' World Tour Concert Pictures

Monday 25th May 2009 - O2 Arena, London UK
[Click to enlarge]

























26 May 2009

Beyoncé Turned Me Out

I was one of those folks. Take it or leave it. Liked the regular club Beyoncé tunes or the ballads and pushed the rest to the wayside. Not die hard, like I am with my Mariah status. You know the release date of the album, track order, who wrote and produced what track, all before the album comes out. Then you buy the album and learn the songs within 3 hours. Nope I'm not like that with Beyoncé at all. After seeing her live at the O2 yesterday night *shakes head* the Houstonian Heffer got me.

My confession is "I am now a Beyoncé fan."

The concert was amazing! Prince was the most amazing live act I'd ever seen, he's now at number 2, and that took some doing.

I'll post more about the concert, with pics n vids tomorrow.

**Please don't think that this means I'm going to be nice going forward. There's a difference between being a fan and a straight fool**

13 Mar 2009

I'm A Hustler!!!

Whatchu know bout me???

My 2 MJ tickets sold for £225 each.

Am I happy?

Dumb question!!!!
On my way to the bank to deposit this weeks £485 cheque from selling my gold.

God is GOOD!
**Does the George Jefferson strut**
WELL DONE HAYLEY FOR SELLING YOURS TOO!!!!

12 Mar 2009

Michael Jackson Tickets For Sale! - BOTH PAIRS NOW SOLD!!!

I told my friend I'd put up a link for her Michael Jackson tickets as well as mine. Both of ours are listed on Seat Wave.

The tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow. Why some fools are pitching tents outside the O2 I don't know. Have they heard of Internet?? Whilst they are standing in line tickets will be sold at the stroke of 7am and FAST.....the world over.

Hayley's Tickets SOLD £220 each
28th August 2009 @ 18:30
Level 4
Block 409
Row K

LondonDiva's Tickets SOLD £225 each
26th July 2009 @ 18:30
Level 4
Block 411
Row K
Seats 697 & 698
And if you think that is steep in price for that seat...TRUST people ARE PAYING for tickets for this concert.


11 Mar 2009

Cedric The Entertainer in London

Oh my goodness where is my head at? Excuse me guys…I like to give y'all the heads up about pretty much everything. Let me be brief I'm on the work tip today.
Cedric The Entertainer is in town June 20th 2009 at the Hammersmith Apollo.

I heard it on Choice FM on Sunday [If I wasn't in my sister's car I'd never know as I don't listen to Choice FM] So when I got home booked my ticket and nabbed a seat 3 rows from the front.

Not sure about ticket availability but wanted to give you guys a heads up. You can order your tickets on Ticketmaster.

Who's Bad?

I managed to snag 4 Michael Jackson tickets for this summer's This Is It extravaganza at the O2.

LondonDiva will NOT be going. I'd rather miss it, than go and be a hypocrite [supporting off key folks].
Two tickets have gone to my co-worker and her sister for face value, and the other two I will be selling on, yes for a profit…watch all the MJ fans come up in here tell me I'm disgusting! Mi nah business. This IS business!! I'll give 10% to charity from what I make anyway. Let's hope MJ is doing something good with the cash raised himself before anyone wants to bash me. In case you missed it the first time, mi nah business!

Well there are 6 more dates added as I type this raising them up to 16 shows in July/August. I knew they'd do this. This isn't rocket science. I was able to get a pre-sale code [not all pre-sale registered users were lucky to receive one, so this is pretty much a lottery]. Then they went on sale at 7am, didn't get a ticket, went to work and got 4 after 9am. Result!!!

May not seem like a big deal but around 1 million people around the world who have pre-registered [even though it was only open to UK residents]. These tickets aren't even on general sale until Friday. So even though they are on the upper tier of the O2 arena, some people never got tickets at all. My sister and friend are still trying [for seems like an hour] to get some. It took me 6 minutes. And I was looking on the MJ forum and some people are seated to what seems to be near the back of the stage. What inna di raas???? So I'm lucky to have gotten these.

Sunday July 24th 2009
O2 Arena

Level 4
Section BK411
Row K
Seats 697 & 698


Tickets are available from Ticketmaster

26 Jan 2009

'Hangin' Tough' 20 Years Later. They Still Got The 'Right Stuff!'

I just got back from seeing my first all white American Boston boy crush at Hammersmith Apollo tonight. Let me just say this, rule them out if you must, but these 5 going on 40, divorced, married, single fathers from teen to toddle having children STILL know how to make the women swoon [one fainted not too far away from me]. STILL look good. STILL can dance. STILL can sing. STILL can rock it in 2009 like they did in 1989.

Oh my goodness **places hand on heart** they were fine as hell. Donnie was and still is my favourite and you can still see the element of bad boy in him from back in the day. I haven't missed Donnie like the others because I've been high on his acting coat tails for years and years now. From the indie films to the Hollywood headliners like Saw and Righteous Kill. If a Wahlberg is in it, I'm there to see it and it adorns my DVD collection. Trust me if you're a REAL Donnie fan you'll know about Southie, Bullet, Triggermen, Boomtown and Runaway [which is coming out on DVD in March **pumps fist in the air**] even when the masses weren't feeling it, and not just Band of Brothers one of his more popular/mainstream works. I'm a HUGE Donnie Wahlberg fan! HUGE, HUGE, HUGE. He doesn't get enough credit as an actor, he's very good if not better than his brother Mark.

Shoot even Jon and Danny look good up close. They really do. Jon is shy as hell, I don't think that man even talks, but he is fine, I think he may have even overtaken his brother Jordan in the good looking stakes...seriously. Danny is just buff and you can't help but wanna rip his clothes off. Donnie...well the things I want to do to him are too explicit for even my blog. Joey most definitely grew up and is still as cute as ever. Jordan looks very much like Donnie Osmond. Still cute however and hitting those high notes as per usual.

These boys/men whatever you wanna call em looked more like they were in their late 20's let alone approaching their 40's. I was worried the routines wouldn't have gone so well or the concert wouldn't have been that great but I can honestly say I loved it and I love them even more than I did when I was a pre-pubescent little girl. I'm so glad they added this date because by the time I waited on my friend to get back to me which to this day she still hasn't I would have missed them on this world tour. Yes I went on my own, no need for company when you're drooling over men and playing intimate thoughts in your head.

Hammersmith was perfect as it was floor standing downstairs, and me being 5'8 I had a perfect view coupled with being up close. I could see the blue in Joey's eyes, the white on Jordan's teeth, the sweat dripping off Donnie and a ripple or two bulging from Danny's **cough cough** arms...what did you think I was going to say?

I am so glad these guys got back together. During the Cover Girl. Tonight, Games days I was way too young and had a cheap mother who wouldn't have dreamed about forking out money to take a pre-teen to Wembley to see NKOTB. Being close to 30 was well worth the wait in a smaller venue than they played last night at The O2. It was live [as in hype n heavy] just on a more intimate scale.

I'm definitely going to go to bed tonight a happy woman. I finally fulfilled my childhood dream of seeing New Kids On The Block live in concert. Now I need to fulfil my other dream of Donnie being the first white man to ever.....OK let me just stop right there.

Was it worth it? Oh my God yes! And you better believe on the way home I went straight to N for New Kids on The Block in my ipod and played all my fave tunes for the journey home.

**I will be adding pictures and videos. My camera just conked out after uploading over 800 pictures from DC and the concert. So I'll have to go and charge it again, but at this hour, that will be tomorrow.**

12 Dec 2008

I Am...Going To The Beyoncé Concert

I decided that I was going to see what my chances were of getting a ticket. Managed to snag a floor seat ticket for the 25th May 09 show at the O2 Arena, but the prices are becoming totally ridiculous. A total of £58.75 to see a 2 hour [if that] show!! …Whatever, it's the price you pay to make others rich I suppose and nobody forced me to part with my cash. I'm not partial to the full Beyoncé music catalog to be honest, and seeing as the impending world tour of Mariah Carey has rumoured to be called off due to the fact she may actually be pregnant, I thought what the hell, why not. It will be a great show I'm sure. I've read on the forum people who weren't even fans of hers went to a show knowing it would be good and said it was. Three concerts, the Royal Ballet and three vacations planned and paid for in 2009 to look forward to already and we haven't even had Christmas 08 yet. Just think if I'd have waited to ask friend 1, 2, 3, and 4 if they wanted to come with, those floor seats would have gone with the quickness and I'd probably still be waiting for a response in April 2009.

11 Dec 2008

To Bey Or Not To Bey...That Is The Question?

Just got an alert from Ticktmaster. Tomorrow at 9am Beyoncé tickets go on sale for a May 09 concert. I'm not a fan of Beyoncé I like the few club tunes and such, but she's not an artist I'd say is particularly deep enough for me. I can take her or leave her to be honest. Like Cassie albeit more talented vocally.

The thing is this girl can perform the shit out of a show and I can't lie I'm actually intrigued to go and see her 'extra' performances rather than remaining comfortable and settling for my uber faves like Mariah and Prince to roll around once every 5 years or so before going to another live gig. I did say to myself going forward I will check more artists in concert whether I like 1 tune or 10 albums worth of material. Plus my 30th birthday celebrations start Jan 1st 2009 [even though my birthday is July 18th, I'm celebrating for the whole year!].
I need every day and month filled with a little something to look forward to, so far May is empty, so I'll see what seats I can get at 9am tomorrow. If I can't there will be no love lost. On the other hand if it were a Mariah or Prince concert I'd be mortified.

27 Nov 2008

Going Back In Time In 2009

It has been well over 2 months and I'm still waiting for my friend to get back to me about the New Kids on the Block concert in January. It's a good thing I didn't book back then for the O2 show because that coincides with my trip to the US for President Obama's inauguration and would of had to sell my ticket.

So I'm there getting the browsers all ready and making sure my debit details are up to date so I can purchase my Coldplay and Jay-Z tickets tomorrow morning as soon as I get into work, and I see NKOTB have added another date and it gets better, the front is standing only. **Jumps in the air** I have a concert rule, if I can't be near the front seated then it has to be a standing event because I'm one of those get right to the front fans, otherwise it's just not worth going.

29 years old and my dreams are coming true. I'll be able to see Danny, Jon, Jordan, Joey and my beloved Donnie right before my very eyes. It's all worked out. I get to go to the US and then the weekend I'm back go and see NKOTB on the Sunday and relive my pre-teen childhood for a few hours. I'll never get this opportunity again and when they came on the scene I was too young to go to a concert plus my mother would have never ever paid for a ticket.

I keep on saying it. Don't wait on anybody, just do you and go!! I think aside from the Mariah Carey and Linkin Park & Jay-Z concert I've been to all the others by myself.

CANNOT WAIT!!!

Now if Prince does a stint in Vegas I'll be even happier.

4 Aug 2007

The Purple one Reigns yet again!

There were no words to describe Friday night’s performance of the smallest, yet mightiest king of all things musical. On this 21 night London run of sell out gigs of his greatest hits mixed with recent tracks from Musicology, 3121 and the latest release Planet Earth, Prince has said that this will be the last time the great classics will be performed live. For once something great has come to London, and don't we feel privileged that the Minneapolis native chose the UK for a 3 week stint and the final resting place for his classics to be heard.

Thank god someone actually turned this waste of space venue, the O2 arena ("the building formerly known as the Millennium Dome") into a great London concert venue which will certainly give Wembley Arena a run for it's money. We, the taxpayers, shelled out over £700 million to get this place built in the first place only to be left a defunct venue of pure non-interest as 'The Dome'. Only in the last month since it's official launch, Justin Timberlake & Timbaland, Barbara Streisand, Bon Jovi, soon to be the Rolling Stones, Elton John and now Prince has taken over and graced it's stage at the O2 and the IndigO2 for official after show parties, (one of which I have a ticket for next week on the 14th, whether Prince decides to turn up and jam for a few tunes is another matter, if not, I’ll have a good old time just partying.) A once was lifeless space in Docklands being maintained and paid for by us, is now the home to some of the globes greatest talent in a classy and well put together venue.

Back on the to main man himself: Can somebody please tell me, how a man a smidgen shy of 50 years old, 5’2 in height, wears heels and make up and is sometimes (think back to his symbol and slave drawn on his face days) just a lil ‘out there’ crazy, be so overly sexy? Yes overly sexy! I just don’t get it, neither do a lot of men I suppose either. But his stage presence alone, the ability to sing, prance around on stage, and those overdrawn guitar riffs played with such ease. Put that all together with the mystery that surrounds the Purple one and I can see why. You don’t see height with this man, whereas you would with another. Whether deemed strange or weird. You just see musical genius. And that's exactly what he gave us on Friday night.

You really cannot begin to appreciate this man or his music until you see him live. Purple Rain came out way back in 1984 and has been deemed by many as one of the greatest songs ever written, not to sure if the movie will ever be hailed as great as the song, but it's definitely now a cult movie. It’s definitely #1 on my list and that’s saying something being a die-hard Mariah Carey fan. Of Purple Rain as you hear the infamous guitar riff that precedes the 10 minute version he delivered on Friday night, there were deafening screams, lighters and anything that lit (including cell phones) were in the air along with the harmonious crowd singing the infamous “woooh ooooh oooh ooh”, which doesn’t appear till ¾ of the way into the song, along with his guitar solo from beneath the symbol shaped stage before he rose to sing "I never meant to cause you any sorrow", I had to laugh to myself it was almost like a spiritual moment, it was the only way to describe it. Funnily enough reading on some Prince forums after the show, many others had described the performance of Purple Rain exactly the same way.

You can tell whether you loved Prince from the first day he appeared on the scene in the 70’s or you just got dragged along to the concert as you had nothing else better to do on a Friday night, the fans and hangers on alike would not have been satisfied with his electrifying concert performance until this infamous song, now 23 years old, had be performed.

If word is indeed true that, this concert is a farewell to the old material of Prince and he’s never to perform these classics again, then I’m glad that in my lifetime I was able to see one of the greatest artists ever lived to have performed them live, especially Purple Rain, you can’t get better than that alone! That's a moment within itself. - Naomi Miller



Friday's Playlist

01. Down By The Riverside
02. Satisfied
03. Cream
04. U Got The Look
05. Musicology
06. Play That Funky Music
07. Wonderful World
08. Joy In Repetition
09. Anotherloverholenyohead (feat. Rock Lobster)
10. Peach
11. Lolita
12. Black Sweat
13. Kiss
14. I Feel For You
15. Controversy (feat. Housequake chant)

Encore 1
16. Purple Rain

Encore 2
17. Crazy (feat. One Nation Under A Groove chant)
18. Let's Go Crazy

Encore 3
19. Take Me With U
20. Guitar.