Rihanna LIVE, December 2011 (My 1st Concert)

Greetings everyone, how have you all been? I've taken a small break from all the thinking and been enjoying some Xbox One time, doing work as usual and planning for the oncoming events for the summer. Today I am telling the story of what my 1st concert was like. I figured it was good to finally include some more music views as I've been talking about Films, Games and my life so far.

Now honestly, I wasn't expecting to see this beautiful Pop diva as my 1st ever live music experience. I wanted to see Owl City first (but he turned out to be my 2nd, which is also another upcoming story to share). However it turned out amazing and better than I ever expected. So here's what happened when me and my good buddy Jack went to see the beautiful and naughty girl, Rihanna.

Back in November 2011, as I was in my 2nd year of Collyers I was invited out to see Rihanna by one of my friends from my days at Forest School, Jack (who's 1st invite had to cancel so he invited me instead).
So on December 1st 2011, our day out started with a nice trip around London checking out some sites before getting ready for the evening at the 02 Arena.

When at last the night began, the opening act was Calvin Harris who gave a loud and bass pumping performance playing his classics "I'm Not Alone", "Flashback" etc followed by some other famous anthems and hits. He played them all while DJing off a big drink bar like set which had a Green screen display on the front and a huge green screen behind him which acted like a mirror or TV effect which was mesmerising and cool. I'm Not Alone was the best way to start off I feel.

Calvin Harris - I'm Not Alone

 Calvin Harris - Flashback

Calvin Harris - Awooga (PMZ Cover)

But Rihanna's performance didn't happen for another 1.30 to 2hrs later and everyone was booing and shouting as she was taking ages with no announcements. Everyone was doing the Mexican wave to pass the time. But then the time came and boy did she start off with a sexy performance. She opened up with "Only Girl In The World" and was on a throne wearing very little bright coloured outfits.

Rihanna - Only Girl (In The World)

Rihanna - Disturbia

Rihanna - Shut Up And Drive

Word of warning viewers! My singing is awful as I had a very sore throat from all the shouting and was so happy, I didn't give a damn about being caught on camera singing so badly to the songs "Disturbia" and "Shut Up And Drive"! I don't even sound like that in real life and besides people always sound different on camera when they are played back. xD

Anyway, the night was amazing as she sang many of her well known classics from all her albums such as "Disturbia", "Shut Up And Drive", "Pon de Replay" and a lot of new material from her LOUD album (which was new at the time and I knew very little of) like "Man Down", "California King Bed" etc. Of course I knew "S&M" and "Love The Way You Lie" thanks to the radio and they were great to watch (except we missed Love The Way You Lie and you'll soon understand why) as she performed a righteous and sexy display on "S&M". I was expecting a very serious performance on "Love The Way You Lie" but sucks we missed it because it took ages to come on. I saw the vids on Youtube later and felt it was really too bad Eminem didn't make a surprise appearance like he did for some gigs in America when she played that song. WHO CARES NOW, I'M FINALLY SEEING HIM IN JULY!

Rihanna - Man Down

Rihanna - S&M

The set was interesting as she had a throne that slid forward to a stump where she did an alluring dance most of the time and in S&M she was with men who looked like they were split in half! One side of them was a tuxedo and the other was just their underwear.

During her performance (which I sadly can't recall when and which song it happened in), she asked the audience "Who am I gonna take home with me?" To which I couldn't even hear myself think as the arena echoed with overwhelming screaming fans. Suddenly she picked out a girl from the front and pulled her up on stage, placed her on the stump and... she... DRY HUMPED HER!!!
Even I was jealous and I reckon that girl had the time of her life because it didn't just end there. No, the stump began to sink and soon disappear, which I thought to myself and later told Jack that "Rihanna's taken a souvenir with her!" You could say this bit right here was the highlight that got everyone screaming, even I was and all those lads must have been super jealous.

Rihanna - Run This Town (JAY-Z Cover)

But because of the long wait at the beginning, by the time it got to her 20th song out of 22 (yeah it was that long) which was "Drink To That", sadly Jack and me had to head for home during the show. We figured since she gave a big speech that the show was ending anyway. So as I was writing this up today, I found the setlist and discovered to my shock that she came back on for another 3 song encore including "Love The Way You Lie (Part II) and "Umbrella". So FUCK IT that we missed 2 sensational songs and all because we had to hurry home and she took her time coming on in the first place. I think I remember reading a review online once that she was ill backstage and she still came on and gave it her all that night to which I applaud her for going out there no matter what. It's just a shame we had no announcement of this because all that time I figured she was a diva being picky and just choosing when to begin and not understanding that not everyone can stay in London after 11.00pm as trains are a bitch to catch.

To be fair on her, she wasn't as selfish compared to the story on Justine Bieber who this year chose to spend 1-2 hours backstage playing video games while leaving his fans outside waiting for him to bloody start. My cousin went to that and went home disappointed (though still faithful to him, so fair enough).

Rihanna - Pon de Replay

So all around my first concert was a 9/10 and was smashing overall and we didn't have such a bad view as I was worried about as I sat my ass down at the beginning. I heard perfectly and managed to record almost a minute of each song (except for the 6 songs I missed). Will I aim to see her again live? Uhh... YEAH!
My next post will be my 2nd concert which was my favourite so far because he is one of my favourite artists of all and it was a real experience that me and my friend Lewis look back on a lot when we both listen to his work and side projects.
Before I end the story here, my purpose for suddenly talking about this memory is because due to Eminem coming up in July and he will be my 4th concert, I am writing up my past concerts chronologically so that I nothings out of place. And because Jack too me to my 1st concert free of charge for the ticket, to repay the experience, I'm taking him, my sister and her friend in October this year to see the hilarious and always funny comedy legend, Lee Evans. So this will definitely repay the offering he did for me back then.