J Events – Page 5

J Music: UR Experience Tour at Mohegan Sun Arena

November 16, 2014February 1, 2024ayminor

Usher was my first love. Before the Famous Jett Jackson, before Sammie, before J Boog — there was Usher Raymond IV. You name a record off My Way, 8701, or Confessions and my mind instantly goes to a cherished memory from my childhood. Growing up, Confessions defined for me what success was in the industry — diamond album, sold-out tour, movies, timeless music. Until he went and messed around with Tameka, Usher was the standard.

Some argued after Confessions he had nowhere else to go but down — I had always believed he would be considered one of, if not the best entertainer of our time. Nonetheless, it’s been years since I’ve attached Usher’s career with unmatched excellence. In his stead, Beyonce and Justin Timberlake have risen in the ranks, dominating the industry and record sales.

He has the star power, voice, technical skill, and over 20 years in the business — what is the missing element? It’s a question I have asked myself a thousands times. After attending the UR Experience tour at Mohegan Sun arena in Uncasville, CT, I think I can finally articulate my answer.

I’ll fast-forward through DJ Cassidy (mostly because I missed his set — CP Time), and August Alsina (who sounded much less like a goat than anticipated).

I’ll tell you this, the problem with the concert is not Usher and it’s not the music. For two hours straight Usher performed all of his greatest hits with near perfect precision. He was accompanied by world-class dancers who performed a very high-energy set without hint of fatigue, three background singers, and a full-piece band. His charisma shined as he weaved in personal anecdotes throughout the night, keeping the crowd entertained.

The answer then — lack of innovation. The production value was nowhere near where it should be for a star of his caliber. Let’s start with the staging — a small, triangular stage flanked by two short ramps. There was no second stage. There would be no “flying” around the arena. Fans that weren’t in the front, lower level of the arena had little to no interaction with the star beyond a few shoutouts. There was scattered smoke and pyro throughout the performance, but nothing out of the ordinary for your average concert. There would be no stunning visual elements, no spectacular costume designs, and no storyline or cohesion to the songs performed. I counted one video (the intro), some filtered camera shots, 2 jacket changes, 1 shirt change and 1 hat.

I forgot, I think he changed his sneakers too.

Now I believe had the tour gone as planned, as a promotional tool for the now indefinitely delayed UR, the show would’ve been more along the lines of what I had envisioned. I understand they most likely had to cut back on the scale of the production as a result, but at 36, Usher doesn’t have time to waste on mediocre presentations. He needs something BIG to shake up the industry and remind us who has the #1 spot, and I.M.O. it’s now or never. From the album rollout, to the award show performances, to his tour production — everything needs an infusion of innovation.

Steps down off soapbox.

I know I just went in, butttt purely as a fan, I would still encourage you to attend the tour if it stops in your city. I had a great time, I sang, I danced, and when he flashed those pearly whites….swoon.

The rest of the tour dates are below:

iPhone 6 – The Risk was Worth the Reward

September 21, 2014February 1, 2024ayminor

Let me start off by saying I have never waited in line for a new release of anything — Jordans, Black Friday, phones, video games… nah.

After waiting almost 6 months after my upgrade became available for the new iPhone, I was determined to have all my ducks in a row to buy it as soon as it became available. Of course, when they made the announcement and began taking pre-orders I wasn’t ready, and once I was finally ready they said the phone wouldn’t be available until the end of October. #fail

After calling 5 Verizon stores (you have to be thorough with entail), I decided to give it a shot. I would wait on my first line. There were rules:

I would not wait more than an hour.
I would not battle the elements (i.e. rain, sleet, hail, snow, or freezing temperatures).
I would not be trampled.

So on Friday, I got up a little earlier than usual and headed to my local Verizon store. I got there a few minutes after 7; there were only around 25 people in line. I came prepared, I had my lawn chair, sweater, phone, iPad, and 2 magazines.

For expecting the worse, it couldn’t have been a more uneventful/ideal experience. After answering a few emails on my phone and chatting with the other folks in line (very nice people), the staff came out at 7:30 to hand out pre-enrollment forms and answers any questions we had. At 2 minutes to 8, they started letting people in 10 at a time. By 8:40 I was in the store buying my phone. By 9:35 I was at work (I work 40 minutes away).

My takeaways that I share with you:

Don’t always go the pre-order route;
Do your research;
Set your boundaries; and most importantly
Don’t always believe the hype — the first people in line had waited since 7 p.m. the night before (they got their iPhone no more than 30 minutes before me).

J Event: Made In America Festival 2014 | Philadelphia

August 30, 2014February 1, 2024ayminor

I can’t believe it’s that time of year again.

Not only does tomorrow mark 8 days until my birthday, it’s also my second year attending MIA in Philly!

I’m traveling down tomorrow morning for a girls’ trip with my best friend to check out the festivities. I will definitely update this post post-festival with all my thoughts on Saturday’s festivities. Can’t lie, I only feel skeptic about the lineup (which I will explain in full later), but I am trying to keep an open mind.

UPDATE:

I had a great time in Philly, but it was exactly what I expected. Let me explain–

We hit minimal traffic getting down to Philly and the first stop was Mad 4 (Mex) on Penn’s campus for one of my favorite meals — margaritas, crispy wings, and waffle fries; highly recommended. We got to the festival a bit late (due to metered parking), so we ended up missing DJ Cassidy, but arrived just in time from Chromeo, on.

Last year, what I loved about the festival was the near-perfect curation which was enhanced by the good vibes of festival-goers. The festival featured action-packed performances from every genre and there were enough mainstream artists to cater to the very diverse crowd. Every 10 feet, I ran into people from all facets of my life — my hometown, college friends, even my coworkers.

This year, I found that my fun came mostly from the silly moments my best friend and I had interacting with the strangers we met throughout the day.

I consider myself a generalist when it comes to music — I like a little bit of everything with strong ties to R&B and pop — but I only knew two people on the bill for the day (J. Cole and Kanye); that didn’t have to be a bad thing, but I ended up being unimpressed with the other acts I saw.

One pleasant surprise was Chromeo. Though I don’t remember not one song, the duo had everyone grooving. (At one point my best friend and I ballroom danced with people we’d met 2 minutes before.)

J. Cole brought a lot of energy to his set and I loved the live band, but I was ready to kick things into high gear and his material just isn’t made for a festival-like turn up, no matter how much he tried. 2 Chainz on the other hand… I digress.

Now ‘Ye I may have slept on. We were so exhausted by the end of the night (grannies) that we chose to stay on the periphery of the crowd and therefore I don’t think we got the full experience. We were off-put by his set-list, which was mostly material from the new album (-__-) for the first 30-40 minutes.

Nonetheless, I haven’t seen Kanye perform by himself since his first album (?) so I’m glad I was able to hear my first Kanye rant.

“What we do culturally is not a joke.” – Kanye West

(I saved that in my phone.)

This year I only saw, at most, 2 people that I knew; despite being in a city with a 40+% black population, the crowd wasn’t diverse at all.

Selfish of me, but my bottom line is this — MIA planning committee, stick to one city and invest your resources in getting one bomb, diverse lineup. It also wouldn’t hurt to have 1+ female artists… like, really.

Two funny moments–

Made-in-America-Philadelphia-June-Ambrose

Made-In-America-2014-Philly-3-June-Ambrose

1. I met June Ambrose! I had just saw her tweet about the festival when my best friend spotted her milling around the ground level of the VIP section. After fangirling for 10 minutes, my friend finally made her way over to ask for a picture and June was more than willing. As I was taking the picture, her daughter ran up for the ill photobomb. June was definitely on #rockmom duty!

2.We were watching a performance, when my best friend said to me, “that girl looks exactly like Elle Varner, but it’s not her.” Just as I turned around the girl turned her back to me, so we kept trying to discreetly angle ourselves to see her face. She started to walk away (at a brisk pace), so we ended up tailing her like creepers. Eventually, we gave up because my best friend was convinced it wasn’t her. Turns out, it was her, ha!

More pics below:

Read my tips after attending MIA last year here.

J Music: Mikky Ekko Performs Intimate Set, Readies Debut Album ‘Time’

August 22, 2014January 30, 2024ayminor

Last Thursday, Hilton Hotels hosted an intimate, acoustic performance by Mikky Ekko in Times Square curated and produced by Spin Media. Unfortunately I missed the live stream, but thanks to YouTube ads (for once) I was able to relive the 30-min, six-song set by the “Stay” singer and song-writer. I didn’t fall in love with any of the songs performed, but I still plan to give his debut album Time a listen, which he shared with the audience has just wrapped. The tracks I gravitated to most–one at the 4:47 mark, the other at 13:55 (“Stay” is at 18:25). Interested to hear others thoughts, what do you think?

His performance comes three months after Bridget Kelly‘s intimate set hosted by Hilton Hotels in L.A.

Keep your eyes peeled for these #HiltonMusic concerts, I know I will.

Video is now unavailable.

I am always intrigued by unknown artists who (seemingly) pop out of nowhere and skyrocket to the top of the charts, so I was always wondered how he finagled a feature on Rihanna’s album, with a feature credit, and then, more importantly, why she often went on to perform the song without him after its debut. My questions where answered in an interview he did with Billboard:

“After [‘Stay’] came out, there was a lot of pressure to capitalize on that momentum… From the label, people on Rihanna’s side. I think we speculated a little bit about going out on the tour with Rih, and I ultimately felt like the songs weren’t there. And I said I’m not gonna go out to promote an album that could be better. And I know the sort of the endless tweaking that can happen, but I feel like we took the time to put together a really, really strong album full of songs that at least for me represents exactly where I am.” – Mikky Ekko (billboard.com)

J Events: 3 Upcoming CT Shows for $45 or Less!

August 11, 2014January 30, 2024ayminor

In light of the news about Danity Kane this weekend (I’m too hurt to speak on it now), it will be interesting to see if the boys’ reunion tour holds a different fate. I am anticipating some type of foolery, but I’m hoping for the best. I will report back.

**UPDATE: I had a feeling things wouldn’t go according to plan… the Day 26 concert has been postponed to September 3 due to “personal circumstances.”

Other concerts that may be of interest…

I was slightly embarrassed to post this concert, but now I have a legitimate reason: it turns out one of the opening acts “The Heydaze,” features three Penn undergrads! I may have to go just to support musicians from my alma mater. Tickets are $35.

Drake and Lil’ Wayne will be performing in Hartford on Wednesday at the XFINITY Theatre. I went back and forth for months, but after seeing Drake on Saturday Night Live and the ESPYS, I can say with certainty I regret not attending the Would You Like a Tour? tri-state concerts; though I have never been a Lil’ Wayne fan, I don’t want to pass up the chance again. Single tickets for lawn seat are $45, a 4-pack brings it down to $33.

J Events: On the Run with Bey and Jay at MetLife Stadium

July 19, 2014January 30, 2024ayminor

I love live music.

Attending a concert for me is the ultimate high and low. It’s a testament to the kind of influence that’s possible, and yet also the reminder that there’s work to be done if I want to get from the nosebleeds to the main stage.

A great show is more than just the artist and a pre-recorded track — it’s a live band, background vocalists, trained dancers* and most importantly: the special connection a great artist has with their fans.

The combination of these things keeps me coming back; my sixth time seeing Queen Bey did not disappoint.

We have come to expect excellence from music’s power couple, and that’s exactly what you get with the On The Run Tour.

Last Saturday, over 40,000 people came out to see Bey and Jay at MetLife Stadium. For almost two and a half hours, they had the crowd entranced as they traded off sets, occasionally coming together for brilliant mash-ups of their greatest hits from the last two decades.

Of course it was amazing; but my post-show thoughts are layered. As the self-titled “objective Beyonce stan,” here’s the real:

While it feels special to gain entry, the show itself seems removed, like it’s happening somewhere else on a separate stage, produced by Hollywood men in front of Hollywood cameras. It’s almost as if the whole thing had been filmed and edited ahead of time.

– An excerpt from Jeff Rosenthal’s article for noisey.vice.com

Although I think Jeff’s article was part troll, part truth, he at least grazed the surface of some of my small qualms with the show; in short, it’s damn near perfect.

To be clear, a large part of the concert’s storyline is told through visual elements that were filmed prior to the show, but even the live shots were perfectly-angled and peppered with special effects.

At times, I preferred the view from my binoculars to give me a dose of reality.

If you’ve attended any of Bey’s last 2 tours, you were probably doing most of the choreo and concert-ad libs in your seat, as I was, and are familiar with the “blips of sincere yet programmed PDA ” that Jay and Bey scatter throughout their performances.

Before the show I realized I had never seen a husband and wife headline a concert together — what would be different? The answer was, almost nothing. It felt like an extended performance of any collab they’ve done in the past –it was all business.

I had expected her performance of “Resentment” to be the highlight of my night as it had been one of the most emotionally-charged and talked about moments of the show; but it wasn’t. Although she again changed the lyrics to the song, it didn’t have that “rough around the edges, but straight from the heart” quality that tugs at your heart strings, it just felt like another strategic move by her camp to feign intimacy for the crowd — something extra they threw in post-Miami. Don’t get me wrong, she bodied the song, but it didn’t move me to tears like her 2009 Wynn Last Vegas rendition did, twice.

To my surprise, my favorite, heartfelt performances of the night were her cover of Lauryn Hill’s “Ex-Factor” — The Mamas always amplify anything and everything — and “Pretty Hurts,” which felt like her most vulnerable, and least-methodical performance.

The most moving visual element came at the end of the show, when they share their “real life,” during the “Young Forever/Halo” finale. To see what’s possible in one lifetime — love, marriage, children, sold-out stadiums, significant influence — I couldn’t help but leave brimming over with possibilities.

The number of artists and celebs in attendance, on both nights, just goes to show how

much respect and admiration the power couple have from their peers.

Bey and Jay are the standard.