Before I begin, let me please apologize for a few choice words and phrases that may come up and out of my mind. Although I speak my mind, I want to make sure that all are aware of that fact so if you didn’t know, now you do. With that being said, let’s go!
Saturday night, date night, family night, Tyrese concert night!! Yay, and thanks to the Hubby for getting great tickets, section B, row 9, not bad at all. We were right in the hustle and bustle of it all. We even had to endure the sights that should have been unseen, the perks of being straight in front of the stage, both good and bad.
The show began at 8:00pm sharp. LaTangela Fay, a local female radio personality, took the stage and got things underway. She was a delight, full of energy and looked radiant on stage with her red lips and long tresses. The crowd was hype, excited and ready to see some “dark chocolate” well, at least the ladies in the room.
First up, “a Dude from Angie, Louisiana”, who none of the crowd seemed to know and whose name I forget. My husband and I thought “where in the hell is Bobby V”, who was supposed to be the opening act. Well, God bless his soul for trying. I won’t knock his hustle, but with that being said, one has to have talent in order to make it in the music industry, right. Well maybe not, I could name names but that’s not my style. Besides, Mama always said, if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all. “Keep your day job, bruh”, is all I will say though!
After “the Dude from Angie” caused all of us a slight headache, we have a group called “Recognition”. Wait, wouldn’t it be expected to at least have some, with a name such as that? Their microphones were too damn loud, one sounded like a wounded goat and the other one looked like he was missing meals, pants falling off his ass. They were running around the stage, looking lost. And the texting started. Yeah, my sister, brother, cousin, husband and I began texting our “WTF’s” “Are you kidding ME’s” “This is wack” and many other jabs at these poor, trying souls. I guess after seeing Sade, John Legend, Prince and several other musical geniuses, you become spoiled with expectations that all concerts will be as theirs. But doesn’t being a great performer have a lot to do with it too? Well, if so…”Recognition” is in BIG TROUBLE, but I will give them a “C” for coming out on stage.
They sucked, with the exception of their first song, which wasn’t their song at all. Thanks to Jay-Z and Kanye for making such a great, get-you-up-out-of-your-seat-song. (…ball so hard Muthafuckas wanna fine me but they can’t find me… that shit Cray) It’s my jam! (What she order? fish-fillet) Love that song! Anyway, as they continued, they decided to bring two ladies from the audience up on stage. Thinking, “Okay here we go, maybe they getting comfortable on stage and about to really put on a show for us” I was disappointed yet again. Everyone in the crowd probably was thinking the same thing, “they about to give the girls a lap dance”, well, let’s just say, we were all fooled. “Recognition” took the seats and it was understood then what they wanted to receive from the two chosen ladies. The saddest thing I ever saw! One of the girls was shy and didn’t even attempt to move. She looked scared as hell and even had a friend come up on stage to defend her, I guess. The other girl, who we thought was a first-lady, with the church-hat she had on, gave her all. She did do something. She wasn’t that bad! *claps*
After then, a DJ from New York City took to the stage and showed his ass playing our very own New Orleans bounce music. I woman whose name we learned was Ethel, got up on stage and gave us some much needed entertainment. She was awesome, dancing all the different moves, to each song and then some. At one point, she bent over and her ass-crack said “hello”! LaTangela had to tell her to stop and go back to her seat. She wasn’t shy in the least, but an entertainer I must say. I even got up on my feet and danced, reminiscing of my high school and college days, where I stayed on the dance floor, shaking my ass. (If any of you guys are from ‘the boot’ as we refer to our home state Louisiana, you know what I’m talking about) There is nothing like bounce music! It really gets the blood running to the hips. I can hear them now (You a fine Muthafucka want you back that ass up…) (pump the pump the party) (I need a hot girl, whatcha need boy), along with several other hits.
Shout out to the Hot Boyz, Master P, Mystikal, Juvenile, Bustdown, and DJ Jubilee. (Back in the day jams) What ya’ll know bout that “T. Tucker”? Memories, memories, memories! Yes, I love to dance and with age, that fact remains the same. I love to dance! I hate that I don’t remember the DJ’s name because he was a highlight to the then dreadful event. If anyone who was at the concert remembers, please let me know. (We no limit soldiers, I thought I told ya…) And for those of you who are clueless to Louisiana artists, let me just say two words “Lil Wayne”. Shout out to Young Money! Let me stop and move on.
Following the DJ and Ethel’s performance, Big Sexy, a comedian from Baton Rouge, lit up the stage even more. Entering the stage, he paused while the music played and he too commenced to dancing, popping his crotch, “P-popping” if you will. He was funny, entertaining, full of life, and a blast. Taking us back down memory lane, with songs that still get us going, always hits in our minds. The crowd sang along and the evening began to shine. Big Sexy danced for us, made us laugh but most importantly, helped us forget about “the Dude from Angie” and “Recognition” not getting much recognition at all. As I said, some people are born entertainers and some are not!
Now, I don’t know what happened to cause Bobby V. not to perform, but I hope that he is okay. He was supposed to be there and wasn’t. What happened? Anyone knows? Please share! Anyway, the person who became his last minute replacement was Case, yes, the Case we all know and loved during our college years, if you are now in your thirties. Even though he had his three hit wonders, he was once on his game, topping the charts. He even had Beyonce in one of his videos. (Ya’ll know the one when she walked in the room filled with roses and he proposed marriage.) What’s the song, “Happily Ever After”?
He looked the same, but sounded like a howling animal for the most part. Really, “who in the hell booked Case”? He probably was happy as hell to get that call. When was the last time you heard about Case? I mean really! I won’t knock him for trying, but he has lost his grip. But I do have one thing to say though. If you only have three hits during your career, I am gonna need you to be able to sang the hell out of those three hits each and every time you on the stage, otherwise, don’t look for any more calls. “Happily ever after” was the only song which he remotely came close to doing justice, again I say, almost. I wanted to scream! On top of that, the guy sitting next to me, on my right, my husband sat to my left, breath smelled like horseshit. Yes, and he wanted to sing along with every song he knew from that moment on. Case was funny though. Someone from the audience hollered out “take your shirt off” were he replied “you take your shirt off! The only time my clothes come off is when I’m fucking. Are we fucking?” Yes indeed! Go head Case with your used-to-know-how-to-sing-ass!
My husband sat next to a girl whose dude wanted to wrap his arm around her and rub her arm, only he was rubbing my husband’s arm instead. This is the second concert that we have attended that this happened. I guess next time I will sit in that seat so my hubs won’t get felt up again. Maybe not, I am not that nice and would probably have said something like “excuse me, can you please stop rubbing up and down my damn arm, you don’t know how your girl feel or do you think I’m going home with you after the concert?” Yeah, I can go there if need be. Ol’ boy to my right better thank his lucky stars that I was carrying a little ass purse, because he would have looked down and saw a slice of gum waiting for his ass to chew, for that stank breath. (Help me Baby Jesus!) Okay, moving right along. By then, it was almost ten o’clock. Mind you, the concert started at eight o’clock, right. So we were all nearing our breaking point, ready to see the main event. (Tyrese, Tyrese, Tyrese!!!)
The lights went down, the band started to play. Smoke, red lights and dancers took the stage. The two girls dancing were amazing, by the way! Nice job selecting them Tyrese, because from the way they looked and moved, I’m sure he had a say in the process. The band was grooving, live and in charge. Everyone stood to their feet clapping, screaming, hollering and excited to see the man of the hour. All of the painful attractions from start, washed out of our minds.
Finally, when Tyrese took the stage, the show came to life. He was full of energy, but dressed like he was in Canada. Damn, he was sexy but dressed in all black leather, gloves, hat, boots, dark glasses and all. True, it is technically still winter, but we are in the South. We hardly ever have a cold winter and this winter, we probably have had about a full week well, if that. Needless to say, he looked fine!
Tyrese was overwhelmed by the massive crowd, because for a few minutes, he just stood there and took it all in. I saw tears in his eyes from my seat. It’s amazing to have fans but having those fans support you by selling out an arena, is truly something special. “Tyrese, we love you in Louisiana, and don’t ever forget it, but there are a few things you could have planned better.” He thanked us all for coming out and buying his albums, going to the movies to see his films and purchasing his book Getting Out of Your Own Way.
The first portion of his show was addressing the audience. Crowd participation was a most and a few hits from his latest album “Open Invitation”. He danced around the stage, grinning from ear-to-ear, showing off his pearly whites. Then he sang “Zodiac” putting on a show by pouring baby oil all over one of his dancers and her dancing all over him, basically giving him a lap dance. (Recognition, take notes) In the process of performing, his dancers slowly undressed him in stages, but he didn’t show off his sexy abs at all. (What a big disappointment for the single ladies in the crowd)
The second portion of the show was him dressed in all white linen, looking very debonair. He sang his hits from other albums and closed the show with singing “Stay” and “Sweet Lady”. The part that I, along with many others, didn’t like was the fact that he (Tyrese) said if CDs were purchased, he would personally sign and take photos with each one who did. I didn’t stand in line, but my sister and her best friend did. My brother and cousin stood in line with them, and were rudely asked to get out by security.
Now, my brother is 6’5” tall and about 250lbs. My cousin is 6’3” tall but smaller than my brother, but they are tall, respectful dudes, who don’t like trouble. When security saw that they weren’t about to be punked by them, they kindly left them alone. I few people saw and asked them what happened. The security dudes were trying too hard to show just how “HARD” or “IN CHARGE” they were. It really doesn’t take all the disrespect or being rude to people for no reason at all. And their ass would probably be scared as hell if something really had gone down. Word of advice, someone doing their job the way it’s supposed to be done in the first place, won’t have to overcompensate doing so. (Wouldn’t you agree?) They were just rude and not just to my family, but others as well. Many people got out of the line.
My sister was so excited about attending the concert and meeting him because she has loved Tyrese since seeing him sing sitting on that bus in the McDonald’s commercial. She made sure she made the perfect outfit, bad ass shoes, hair done…nails did…everything done she was “fancy”, huh! Yeah, corny I know, but laughter cleanses the soul, so laugh. Why was it a big deal that men were in the line, especially if they were standing with their girlfriends, wives, sisters, cousins, best friends, or in some cases, Mamas?
Tyrese walked out looking straight ahead, took a seat behind a table and then waved briefly at the long line wanting to meet him. He almost looked afraid. He even told his “people” to make a few people leave stating that they were taking free pictures of him. Didn’t they buy tickets to the damn concert? If you ask me, he could have walked the line, with his bodyguards/security first, shaking hands before taking his seat. That could have possibly savaged what happened next.
Now, the fans are the ones who make a difference in your career, so was it too much to ask to stand next to him taking the photo or actually seeing him sign their album covers? Well, that didn’t happen. Everyone in the line had to give their cd covers to someone who “supposedly” headed it to Tyrese to sign, and then when it was time for pictures, you had to lean across a table to have your picture taken. Once this was over, nope, there wasn’t an actual picture, you were given a website to go to and download your photo. “Who does that?”
Although we still love Tyrese, we felt that we should have been treated better. With the way the economy is going, paying money for a ticket, standing in long-ass lines to meet him and then buying another cd to be signed is a big deal. It’s a choice of leisure not necessity. I was disappointed that there weren’t any t-shirts for purchase. It’s just one of my personal preferences when it comes to concerts or seeing the people I support. I always have to buy a shirt from the concerts I attend, just for remembrance. Not this time, sadly! Man, I just knew I would be sporting an “open invitation tour” t-shirt, putting it on instagram and twitter. :’-)
We don’t know if he was tired, rushed or in need of a little TLC, but it wasn’t fair to fans to be treated as such. You see other stars, entertainers, and celebrities, embrace their fans, take photos with them, and even shake hands, I see it every year during Essence Music Festival and other events attended. But none of this happened except for the people sitting in the VIP section, and even they were advised by security not to touch too much. Well, at least one must not have heard or understood, because she touched more than what she should have been allowed to touch. (Yeah, she can share with anyone she pleases just how well or not endowed “Mr. Gibson” really is!)
They were also told by Tyrese himself that their energy wasn’t up to par, calling down others from in the stands, because of filming a DVD, which the lovely city of Baton Rouge shall appear. I guess we should be thankful for that, huh! I hope that the remainder of the tour is better for fans, because if not, sadly, the next time our sexy star comes to town, a few will be deterred from attending. But to my surprise, I saw that Tyrese tweeted that that night was the best night of his life, due to all the love he received from Baton Rouge. See, even when treated unfairly, we still show our love! That should count for something.
Treat your fans or the people who support you as you would want to be treated by someone you support. Think about how you would feel. Don’t lose fans and supporters because of the actions of your staff or of your own. After all, you, as the Headliner, are in charge! You have the final say! As Tyrese said during more than one time on stage, “Imma grown ass man and I do what the fuck I wanna do!” Act like it!!!
All-in-all, this was a very insightful and humbling experience. I did enjoy being with my husband and family. Regardless of any situation, we always find ways to make the best out of it and laugh. We will be laughing from this night for many years to come. It also allowed me to see that even people, who appear on the big screen, sell out concerts and make music videos, have flaws. We are all only human! Until next time, be inspired, be encouraged and be a better you!
Smooches,
Keke Chanelfollow me on twitter @keke_chanel
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