Glow in the Dark

My friend Melissa took me to the Glow in the Dark tour show last night in Virginia Beach for my graduation present. For those who haven't heard of it, the tour features Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D., Rihanna, and Kanye West. I may not strike most people as the biggest hip hop fan ever, but I love Rihanna and think Kanye West is pretty darn awesome, too. I didn't know any songs by the other two people/groups, but figured it'd be fun. Here are some highlights from the night:

*Lupe Fiasco was the first performer on stage and, with the exception of a featured role in a Kanye West song, I had never even heard his name before coming to the show. From the way the crowd was reacting to him, I have to assume I was the only one. He had a lot of energy and was really good, and I was surprised to learn that I had heard one of his songs, or at least the chorus: "Daydreamin" (ordinarily featuring Jill Scott, but she wasn't on this tour, so some other girl was singing her part). Everyone else has heard this song, too, since it's the kind of trippy, pretty song in the AT&T commercial where phones are blooming out of flowers ("Baby, I fell asleep beneath the flowers for a couple of hours on a beautiful day..."). I downloaded it as soon as I got home. According to Wikipedia, it samples a cover of a cover of a cover and it apparently won a Grammy this year (one of the award shows I don't watch).

*About halfway through his set, the rain started coming down pretty heavily. This shouldn't have been much of a problem for us even though we were in an amphitheater since we were under the cover. However, it was raining so hard and the wind was so strong that it started coming in horizontally and we got soaked. I didn't come prepared for inclement weather with a jacket, so I was freezing. A couple of people on stage through the night casually mentioned that we were under a tornado warning, so that definitely made the night more exciting, like an adventure. Would we make it to Kanye without blowing away? No one knew. What this meant, though, was that all the people who bought lawn seats got to come in under the cover and started taking unfilled seats. Most of them eventually got kicked out of those seats once late-coming ticket holders showed up and watching that provided us with ample entertainment between sets.

*N.E.R.D. was next up on stage and this is a group whose name I've heard (I even know that one of them is Pharrell, a really successful producer, who is from VA Beach), but whose music I am completely unfamiliar with. They were really good, too, but it wasn't too exciting for me since there wasn't a single song I recognized. They pulled up six girls from the audience to dance with them on stage and were subsequently molested by the over-eager, over-excited, handsy fans...I suppose "molested" is a strong word, but they were all over them. I guess the girls saw their opportunity and went with it--N.E.R.D. did not seem too bothered by it all.

*Our seats were right behind one of those VIP boxes, which is really just a rectangle set off by metal rails with lawn furniture in it, filled with five people in nice suits. My friend speculated that they were related to Pharrell since he's from the area, but they didn't move an inch or express one iota of excitement during the entire show, let alone during his set. I was quite impressed by their restraint and their ability to sit so still for so long.

*Rihanna followed N.E.R.D. and she was really the one I was most excited to see. I think "Umbrella" is a flawless pop song, one I'm not ashamed to admit to loving with every fiber of my being. She's a really good performer and she sang all the songs I know, plus some (I only have her Good Girl Gone Bad CD). She closed her set with "Umbrella" and that was the first song of the night to get me out of my seat. I was unbelievably excited to hear that song and sang along very loudly to the whole thing. Since it was a rainy day, a lot of people had umbrellas on them and everyone who did opened them up and waved them around in the air for this song. It was great. I wonder what it must feel like to have thousands of people singing along to one of your songs with you...

*I stood for the entire Kanye West set. It was incredible. I could have done without the weird lost in space skit thing he was doing, but it really brought the whole sci-fi vibe of the night together--Pharrell made the "live long and prosper" hand sign (from Star Trek) to signify VA during his set and dancers during Rihanna's were dancing with glow sticks that looked like light sabers. I didn't know sci-fi was so big in the hip hop world. I have Kanye's last two CD's, but I really only know the singles, and he sang them all. "Gold Digger," "Diamonds from Sierra Leone," "Heard 'Em Say," "Touch the Sky," "Flashing Lights," "Jesus Walks," and "Stronger." People can say what they want about him and his ego, but his ego is completely justified--he really is that good. And he really cares about his fans and putting on a good show. His set was, of course, the longest, by at least 30 minutes. He was out there by himself and he didn't slow down or falter once. He even poked fun at himself, promising that he would stop spazzing out at award shows if he could just get off the planet he was stranded on in his [silly] skit (again, the only flaw in the whole show was this act). He sang "Hey Mama," a song obviously devoted to his mother, moving the entire audience since this is the first Mother's Day since his mom died.

*Unfortunately, as they are prone to do, other people managed to prevent me from enjoying myself completely during Kanye West's set. The people who had tickets for the two seats next to me showed up right before he started (I don't know how they justified spending so much money on tickets to a show with four acts only to come for the last one, but whatever) and everything was going well for the first half. Then they went to get drinks and while they were gone, I guess more people came to take their seats. Instead of leaving once the actual ticket holders came back, they all just squeezed into the space, so the girl next to me ended up standing kind of in front of me and the girl next to her, who was dancing like she was having a freaking seizure, was next to me, hitting me every so often in her spazziness. By the end of the show, even after my friend had politely asked her to move, the one girl was standing directly in front of me, I was getting hit more often by the other girl, and three of the drunk sorority chicks behind me had hit me four times (whether this was on purpose or not, I'll never know). No matter what happens, I am always astounded at how rude people can be. I imagine that being a complete asshole with no consideration whatsoever for other people must be really freeing. You can do whatever makes you happy with no guilt.

*To complete my already amazing present, and probably to lift my spirits a bit after those bitches tried to ruin my night, my friend bought me this really cute t-shirt. I have to say, I love that a big-time rapper has adopted a cute teddy bear as his mascot. I even think his name is cute: Dropout Bear. After buying our souvenirs, we then made our way to her car. After wandering around the muddy parking lot (in flip flops...oh yeah) for about twenty-five minutes, we found her car and were on our way home.

I realize that this is one of my longest posts ever, but it was a great show and I want to remember it all.