It was the best of times. It was the rockin'-est of times. It was the Gwen Stefani show on Tuesday night.
My friend John was supposed to go with, but came down with strep throat. Luckily, Kyle was free so he agreed to go. The venue was the E Center in West Valley. It's a huge arena, but it didn't really matter because we had seats in the 14th row on the floor. It kinda stinks having assigned seating, but I really can't complain since we were still so close.
The Black Eyed Peas opened. I once believed that "Muskrat Love" was the worst song in existence. Then the Pussycat Dolls came out with "Don't Cha" which was even worse. It turns out I wasn't even prepared for "My Humps." This song is horrible on so many levels, yet, it's so damn catchy, I find myself singing it all the time. As for the show, they sounded pretty good, but wandered aimlessly around the stage the whole time. I was hoping Justin Timberlake would show up to sing "Where Is The Love?" with them, but no such luck. By far, the best moment of their set was "Let's Get Retarded." Oh, and Fergie looked pretty good, too.
Then, at last, it was time for Gwen. There was a big white curtain that dropped to reveal a huge stage. Gwen rose up on a throne surrounded by her little Japanese-girl entourage. She opened with "Harajuku Girls" and danced around like it was nothing. The second song was "What You Waiting For?" which is probably my favourite track on the album. She performed every song on her album, plus a couple that must have been out-takes or b-sides.
It was a very high production show with lots of set changes and 9 (!) costume changes. But Gwen totally had the energy to back it up. Besides her four female dancers, there were also four male dancers who specialised in breakdancing. They were all over the place, but Gwen was always the center of attention. I wish I could have gotten some better pictures, but there were so many lights and cell phone cameras aren't the best quality. In my ideal world, she would have pulled me out of the audience to dance with her, and then asked me if I was that guy that once grabbed her thigh, but that didn't quite happen either. Oh, well, maybe next time.
I guess the thing that I really like most about Gwen is that she can do it all, and she does it well. She's great as a rock star. She's great as a pop star. She's proven herself a talented song writer. She sings. She dances. She runs across the stage in high heels. Simply amazing. Definitely one of the best shows I've seen. Ever.
By the way, Heather Armstrong (aka Dooce) was at this show, too. Unfortunately, I didn't see her, but if you'd like to read her take on it, go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment