RNB Fridays Live hit Adelaide for another year at the Wayville Showgrounds with headline acts including Janet Jackson, Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent and Jason Derulo. The weather was good and the crowd was out for some fun.
After hit shows in Melbourne and Perth the artists were pumped for Adelaide, bringing the love and showing strong support for the indigenous community with Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas aka Jaime Luis Gomez, taking off his outershirt to reveal the Aboriginal Flag underneath while making the symbol for Black Lives Matter. This garnered strong support from the crowd.
After early performances by J-Kwon, Keri Hilson, Sisqo and Brandy, Jason Derulo took the stage to promote his new album, 2Sides (Side 1) released on 7 November along with his new single Mamacita. The crowd really got into the moves and enjoyed Derulo’s modern vibes.
When Janet took the stage to perform she was dressed as something out of Star Wars, wearing a black robe similar to Kylo Ren and her backup singers were dressed in the style of Rebel Commandos. She announced at the beginning of her performance, “It’s all about control you know, and I’ve got lots of it!”. The crowd was excited at first for Janet’s performance but their excitement faded quickly when they realised she wasn’t the King of Pop. She performed a favourite, Together Again but the crowd started to deflate after a long, hot day, and Janet appeared tired and worn out. For a 53 year old she still put a lot of effort into her dance moves, possibly more so than her singing, which many people believed was lip-synced.
Fatman Scoop caved into an adhoc performance of Be Faithful dressed in an all fluro yellow number and the crowd jumped along to his command, “Jump! Jump! Jump!”. At first, crowd participation was low, but Fatman Scoop managed to get the troops into order. Plenty of girls were getting on the shoulders for a better view but security was quick to get them down.
Unfortunately security wasn’t as attentive to the endless cigarettes being lit up which made the venue feel like a 90’s night club with a touch of weed thrown in, including a giant joint lit up by 50 Cent on stage while he sang, “Smoke weed, smoke weed, smoke weed!” Obviously a positive message for our youth of today. According to other internet articles he blames Snoop Dog for his recent drug addiction.
Overall it was an enjoyable experience but most of the artists have hit their use by dates. Most people were there for the reminiscence of younger days and the younger crowd was there for the party.
Review by @journeywithjulian
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