Rihanna is an artist that is one of the hardest working in music today (on and off stage)

And her only real problem with her show at HP Pavilion in San Jose last night was that she has so many hit songs

Even at just 25 years old – she could not fit them all into a sprawling, nearly two-hour non-stop concert event. 

A prolific artist, Talk That Talk came out in 2011, just as she was wrapping up her Loud Tour (named after the studio album before that)

She’s since release 2012’s Unapologetic, and tickets for this tour actually went on sale late last year as well.  

The show in the massive HP Pavilion was sold out and filled to its 14,500 capacity, and it was one of the best giant arena audiences I’ve seen.  

Rihanna did not disappoint, as the place was bouncing and euphoric before she ever took the stage, and things only cranked up from there.  

She put on her usual top class show fueled with energy and heartfelt emotion and gratitude, as I experienced at the O2 show in London in late 2011 as her last tour came to a close.  This is definitely one of the must-see tours of the year, with both figurative and literal pyrotechnics.

I had purchased one of the “VIP Tour Packages” via VIP Nation last year, and my seat was supposed to be 13th row, middle section, but the actual configuration at this venue did not resemble the seating chart listed on Ticketmaster in any fashion, as there was a staggered section placed in front of the three strips of floor seating.  Now that I’ve seen the full show, I think that the seating chart was changed up to make space and factor in security for Rihanna to come off the stage and down to the floor to interact with the fans a bit.

In any event, the show did get off to a late start by a good 30 minutes, so it was a late night, but I don’t think anyone seemed to mind, as all were focused on the show and having a great time.

One of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while revolved around the well-intended security staffer charged with keeping the aisle in-between floor Section 2 and Section 1 clear of people…  a few fans had fun using it as a runway for a dance off, and he seemed a bit unsure of how to move them off, since they were so harmless, kind, and otherwise well-behaved.  As he was moving one back to their seat, unbeknownst to him, another would be grinding behind him.  It was all quite funny, and truly, once the show started, everyone was really respectful of staying where they were supposed to be.  So kudos to both staff and fans for keeping it fun and also keeping things in control.

A$AP Rocky

As a general rule, I make every attempt to keep my concert reviews fairly positive, or don’t say too much at all.  However, A$AP Rocky was just so bad, in my opinion, I can’t merely skip over the performance.

Now, rap isn’t one of the genres I’m most into, but there are quite a number of rap artists that I admire and who’s work I love, spanning the past three decades.  So while it takes more talent and originality to win me over as a fan, many, many artists have done so, and even the first or one of the first concerts I ever attended in middle school was Run DMC, Beastie Boys, and Ice-T, so I enjoy rap music tremendously.

I was unfamiliar with A$AP Rocky prior to walking into the venue, other than a friend suggesting he would be a good opener.

My first impression as he came out an began performing was that he is another one of those derivative artists that simply borrows from those who came before him…  the same cliched stylings, mannerisms, delivery, themes…  there was nothing original.  He borrowed the dollar sign in a name thing from Ke$ha and others, he holds his mic like Jay-Z, he literally has a throne on the stage (maybe taking the name of the ‘Watch The Throne” tour with Jay-Z and Kanye West a bit too literally), he’s obsessed with the usual rap artists topics (weed culture, “pussy”, anti-law enforcement, etc.).  The throne was unintentionally comical, an abject display of severe insecurity via set decoration, though looking like something that you might find in the children’s section at Ikea.

His delivery was so poor, I could not understand anything that he was saying, other than those songs where he repeated (shouted, really) the same two or three words over and over again.  He actually has a “song” called “Pussy Money Weed”, and as far as I could tell, those were the only words in the song.

And just to kind of paint a picture of the atmosphere of the show…  Rihanna is an inspiration to young women and literally girls – whether or not she chooses to be, this is a reality.  So the venue was filled with adolescent girls, many of whom would be too young to attend a show such as this, so had parents in tow.  So in my humble opinion, the selection of A$AP Rocky as supporting act was a poor choice.  I am not a parent, but if I was, I would have been unhappy exposing a child to this artist, not because he was terrible, but the shouting of profanities, the “n” word, and the misogynistic themes that came across through the music and images was really just not appropriate, all things considered.

I’m a huge proponent of freedom of speech and expression, but if this kind of artist is going to take the stage, there should be an age minimum requirement for the concert (16+ or 18+).

The opening set took an even uglier turn as it wrapped up, as A$AP Rocky began asking for volunteers in the audience…  without explaining why.  Except that they needed to be women.  At least 18.  Or 21.  He couldn’t seem to make up his mind.  He did no I.D. checks, but brought two women on stage to give him a lap dance as he sat in his ridiculous throne.  Seriously, what an idiot.  I guess it is one of his fantasies to have a captive audience of 14,000 people watch him get off by demeaning random young women on stage.

A$AP Rocky has no talent or class (or respect for women or Rihanna’s fans and audience) and in my opinion has no place on this tour.  Maybe he should have been replaced with another artist after pleading guilty to attempted grand larceny a few months ago.

I miss the awesome Calvin Harris, who opened for the last Rihanna concert.

Below are a few photos of A$AP Rocky performing on stage:

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