"I got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one"

So last night was the long-awaited Jay-Z/Rihanna/Ne-yo concert. I took my camera but have yet to figure out how to make it work properly at night when there are lights everywhere, so instead of my blurry images, I've just grabbed some stuff off the web until Stephanie sends through her pictures. In the meantime, here's my review:

Ne-yo

I will give the man credit. He has a great voice and put on a great show. I still couldn't be paid to sit through one of his sappy music videos or overplayed songs on the radio, but at least I have a little more respect for him. I'm sure he's thrilled. My only major complaint is that half of his backup dancers were rather unattractive, and one of them was just scary to look at. Seriously, she had some Shanaynay shit going on (Aussies, please excuse the Martin reference if you're not familiar). Great dancer but she needs to go.

Rihanna

This chick is lucky she looked absolutely gorgeous on stage, because that was easily the most inconsistent live performance I have ever seen. She came out to do "Pon De Replay" and seemed rather erratic when choosing which lyrics she would bother lip-synching to. But then her next few songs were live and she sounded great. And then she did "We Ride", which is bad enough being the bland song that it is, but once again, horrible lip-synching. Very average, and seriously lacking in stage presence. Not that I imagined her to be the next Tina Turner or anything, but she could have tried just a little harder.

Jay-Z

There is absolutely no reason that a guy standing on stage in a white t-shirt, jeans and sunnies should be so ridiculously entertaining, but Jay-Z just is. This is my second time seeing him in concert, and I don't think I've ever seen anyone able to get a crowd so excited. I will admit that I wasn't remotely familiar with at least 2 songs that he performed, but it really didn't matter. And before you go thinking that I'm just another mindless hip-hop fan, I think most rappers SUCK (Eminem is painfully overrated, and don't even get me started on the crap that is someone like 50 Cent) but Jay-Z has got it.


Minor complaints:

• I still don't think I can hear properly in my left ear. I love turning up the bass and all, but that was just a little unnecessary. My pancreas was vibrating.
• The girl behind me who decided to call each of her friends to scream "Omigod Neyo is on stage can you hear him?!?!?" and proceeded to start the same routine when Rihanna came on before I turned around and shot her my look of death.
• Something about the guy in front of me annoyed me. I'm not quite sure if it was his G-Unit t-shirt or his backwards Yankee cap (when I'm guessing he has never had a job long enough to afford a trip to New York), but I kind of wanted to punch him in the neck.