An hour between sets is enough time to check out the demographics. And I am a little surprised. A touch older than Z-100 but uniformly young, white and female. They are dressed up and heavy on the sickly sweet perfume and Wrigley’s spearmint. They hug each other, sleep on each other, touch each other. An embodiment of the intense friendships teenage girls have with teenage girls -just a coupla years younger than the main act tonight.
And they are true believes and riotously approving.
Approving of Rihanna for one, selling out MSG twice while Rihanna had to cancel a dozen concerts elsewhere in the country.
Rihanna pays em back for their loyalty with four costume changes, trapeze artists, marching bands, special effects, strobes, lights, special effects, near nudity, whistle, toots, hits and album tracks.
But if you’re not a fan, you might wonder what the problem is with the music.
Flogging a dead horse with Rated R, Rihanna loss leads and loses me with the dire “Russian Roulette” and worse “Hard” only writing this terrible decision with the hardcore third song of the set “Shut Up And Drive”.
After that the set ebbs and flows for me if not for the little girls who embrace Rihanna’s soft soap story through concert blow out’s like “Rude Boy”, and “Take A Bow”.
Rihanna works the crowd in polyvinyl catsuits and holey skirts, and she is sexy but it isn’t really a sexual performance. Except for “Umbrella” the biggest response is for “Take A Bow” -a kiss off that might not have Chris Brown’s name on it but surely has his baggage at this point. The young girls know how Chris sent Rihanna to hospital and, however counter-intuitive it might be for a young half naked girl to being connecting on a girl’s power trip together, that appears to be what happens.
The Rihanna is a full blast modern pop show and it is as good a way to spend 90 minutes and better than most. But it is the summer movie of summer tours: all bangs and blasts and forgotten before you leave the Garden.
Set List:
1.Russian Roulette
2.Hard
3.Shut Up and Drive
4. .Don’t Stop the Music
4. .Don’t Stop the Music
5.Te Amo
6.Disturbia
7.Rockstar 101
8.Hate That I Love You
9.Unfaithful
10.Rehab
11.Stupid In Love
12.Take a Bow
13.Rude Boy
14.Breakin’ Dishes
15.Pon de Replay
16.Umbrella