The good news is that I was almost immediately able to find out how
Rihanna's concert in Montreal last night (17/3/13) went. The bad news is
that it didn't go well.
Scheduled to appear on stage at 21:00 (local) Rihanna didn't actually
make it on stage until around 22:20 (local). Although I think it's fair
to assume that Rihanna won't actually be taking to the stage until 22:00
(local) at any of her concerts this 1 hour and 20 minute was clearly
very noticeable and led to a lot of sarcasm on Twitter. Apparently
Rihanna 'slayed the gig' and 'killed Montreal' etc. I think this was
done intentionally to fuel the me/Chris Brown duelling horses narrative
by creating speculation that Rihanna was being delayed by the emotional
effects of my Twitter antics. I would say this is a very bad idea
because well let's just say I'm one of those people who is best kept
behind the curtain.
The main problem though was that Rihanna's voice has clearly not
recovered from her bout of laryngitis (inflammation of the larynx btw)
so her performance was very poor. So poor in fact that she had to be
carried by her backing track and backing singers to the extent that some
people have likened her to simply being the audience member with the
best seat in the house as a DJ played Rihanna songs. Obviously this
further fuels the criticism that's often levelled at Rihanna that she
can't actually sing. Some people have gone so far as to suggest that the
laryngitis story has simply been made up to give Rihanna an excuse.
This is bad news for Rihanna because as you've probably noticed from the nudity theme of the Unapologetic album, the "Stay"
video and the tour's promotional material she had been planning on
using this tour to show the naked strength of her voice to face her
critics head-on and in doing so defeat them. It might be even worse news
for Rihanna though because if she does go on to permanently damage her
voice she may well be left using this bout of laryngitis as an excuse
for the rest of her life.
In terms of the show it's self the set list and the costumes remained
the same. There was though some talk of a very noticeable use of a
sample from The Who song "Won't Get Fooled Again" during "Rockstar 101."
However not having heard the song I can't really comment on whether
this was done on purpose or something someone just happened to notice
due to my Twitter antics. This actually highlights one of the main
things that has been annoying me about the rather chaotic way this tour
has begun. I was actually looking forward to the opportunity of getting
to know some Rihanna songs. I am though still waiting for the record
company to deliver the back catalogue so I can build up my working
knowledge.
One song I'm particularly interested in is "Jump" because of the
way it is performed during the concert using lots of fire and
pyrotechnics. Although it's quite common for concerts of this type to
use fire and pyrotechnics the use in Rihanna's show is a reference to
Beyonce's SuperBowl performance. That it turn was a reference to
Rihanna's performances in Azerbaijan soon after her performance at the
para-Olympic closing ceremony and immediately after Rihanna's reunion
with Chris Brown in the toilet of a New York nightclub in October 2012.
Dubbed "The Land of Fire" Azerbaijan's proximity of Iran meant that the
place was a hot bed of espionage activity at the time of Rihanna's
concerts and actually still is. So while I don't have any first hand
knowledge of Rihanna's concerts I have heard a lot of rumours. The same
rumour that keeps coming up time and time again is that without access
to marijuana Rihanna had a significant emotional meltdown following the
second concert on the Saturday night. This is the sort of thing that
sets off warning bells that her marijuana habit has gone beyond
recreational use and crossed into drug addiction.
So the use of fire during Jump is supposed to re-ignite those
rumours for every time Rihanna crosses an international border and
especially as her tour moves down the west coast of Canada, through
Seattle and onto California. Therefore I have to say that I have
absolutely no problem with Rihanna's marijuana use whilst she is on tour
because any problem she has with drugs are clearly secondary to the
problem she has with Chris Brown. Therefore I see no need to interfere
with Rihanna's drug use until the CIA handlers interfere with Chris
Brown. That said without co-operation there is only so much weight a no
touchy touchy from me can carry because without going into any level of
detail there is an element of the Cyprus story that Team Breezy would be
well advised to take careful note of.
Finally although Rihanna clearly has a legitimate reason to cancel tonight and tomorrow's concerts in Toronto as
she's already crossed the border into Canada I think she'll be
performing alive or dead. However I would now be seriously questioning
whether it is worth going ahead with the Detroit and Chicago concerts rather then cancelling, claiming on the insurance and starting again when Rihanna's healthy again. Possibly in Saint Paul's or possibly even later. After all that is what insurance premiums are for.
(Originally Posted) 17:20 on 18/3/13.
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