Kicking off the evening with a barraging bevy of hits, Missy immediately got people off their feet and dancing in the aisles. Even though Tamia was the tour opener, she was missing in action. Those who were late missed Missy, and walking in late on a Missy set definitely leaves one wondering "What's going on?! What did I miss?"
Missy tore the house down, and while her hits did the talking for her, her set and dancers added much hype to her time on stage. Starting off with the line "Who's house is dis?" flashing on the screen, her set was a mix of the movie "The Wiz" while also doubling as a peepshow setup for such songs as "One Minute Man" and "P---- Don't Fail Me Now."
There was a barely audible wail, as parents in the audience groaned in distress. Missy came prepared for much of the sexual thrusting, groping and gyrating that her dancers were doing. In fact, "Misdemeanor" almost seemed secondary to her dancers at some points throughout her performance, with her weak and brief dance-along sessions that took place throughout the night.
Missy quickly ran through her medley of hits, going back to her "Supa Dupa Fly" days, complete with umbrellas, pleather rain jackets and bikinis. When she got to her massively popular song "Get Ur Freak On," there was a computer-generated shark who mouthed the Indian-sounding words at the beginning of her set, much to the fans' delight.
Missy had the most crowd interaction of the night, as she took to running through the crowd and getting the audience even more crunk.
Missy's set lagged in the middle with the performance of some of her latest material, and with the last strain of "Pass That Dutch," Missy and her dancers dutched off into the sunset to make way for the "soultry" soul of Alicia Keys.
Sultry, refined, classic and downright jamming are the best adjectives that could be used to describe the set of Keys. With her full band, excellent backup singers and dancers, exciting lighting and interaction, Keys drew the audience into her highly intoxicating world - into her "Diary" of sorts.
From the first strains of "Harlem's Nocturne" to the go-go blaxploitation sound of "Heartburn," Keys danced, sang and classily vamped her way into the audience's mind and ears.
The major difference between Keys and her other touring counterparts was the organicity of her songs, her voice and her overall production. Incorporating live horns, a Rhodes piano and Keys' grand piano into the night gave a sense of the blossoming of one of our generations soon-to-be-classic soul singers.
The incomparable Keys performed a wide range of material, some from her current record and jazzed-up and salsa-fied versions from her debut record. "Butterflies" received a makeover, as did "Rock Wit U." But, her best performances of the night, vocally and stylistically, came via her current hit "If I Ain't Got You" and her now-R&B-standard "Fallin'."
Keys passionately tore into these songs, weaving her mellifluous alto around each and every note, while at the same time playing each note with as much conviction as she sang them with.
It was truly a moment where you realized that beyond the braids and the beauty, there was a true singer/songwriter at work on the stage.
Even though she branched out and held her own in terms of dancing (at one point joining in on the Latin-influenced moves with her dancers), Keys still had the gentle-voiced crowd interaction that kept the audience glued to their seats. Her bombastic rendition of Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Jump On It" rocked the house with her taking center stage in an orchestra director's jacket complete with baton.
Keys gave an awesome show; experiencing her music "Off the Record" is highly recommended. Her live show introduces a whole new dimension to her music.
Finally, it came down to the last performance of the night, clearly the one that most people came for - Beyoncé.
In all of her royal splendor, Beyoncé made an entrance like an Egyptian goddess, being carried on a canopied bed, throwing rose petals into the audience and waving at her adoring subjects. But once she hit the stage, there was nothing delicate about her, her vocals or her performance.
Knowles became a force to be reckoned with. Kicking off her set with the rousing "Baby Boy," Beyoncé winded and slithered her way all over the stage, segueing into "Naughty Girl" with a shout of "Where are all my naughty girls at!?"
Beyoncé was all flash and visual effects and boy, does she do it well. With her gold-sequined outfits, glittery diamond sandals and curves and abs like those of an "iron woman," she dared the audience to not give her all of its attention. One glance away would leave one with the feeling of having missed one of the most exciting moments in a music lover's life.
While Missy was hype and Keys smooth and soulful, Beyoncé was all power and ferocity as she tastefully transitioned from one song to the next. She trounced through her songs, performing a good part of her album and also taking the crowd through where it all got started, doing the requisite Destiny's Child medley.
What was particularly grabbing about her set was the dizzying array of flying monitors and the always-on panoramic screen that showed her in all of her sweaty, exuberant splendor. She not only worked the audience and the microphone, but she worked the camera at the same time.
The centerpiece of her set was a collapsing staircase that had lights flashing, "B" and a classy, Vegas-style descending staircase capable of collapsing into a sliding ramp for use of the dancers and Beyoncé herself.
Beyoncé's best performance of the night came not with one of the trendy, flash-in-the-pan songs of her debut album, but with her soul-stirring diva performance of "Dangerously In Love." She changed into an exquisitely beautiful, jewel-encrusted evening gown and descended her staircase like the R&B royalty that she is to deliver the power-packed performance of "Dangerously."
It is through this performance that Beyoncé showed that yes, she can shake her ass and "uh oh" until the cows come home, but behind that behind is a seasoned performer. She has the ability to take your emotions into the palm of her hand and manipulate them to reflect the song's feeling.
By setting aside the flash and bang of pop music for that one moment in time, Beyoncé showed that she deserves the crown that she worked so hard for this past year.
With a smash closing performance of her hit "Crazy In Love," replete with shooting confetti, Beyoncé ascended into the rafters waving goodbye and shouting, "I love you!"
The audience returned the favor, clearly having loved every minute of it.
Overall, all acts gave excellent performances, interacted with the audience and made sure that Anaheim, Calif. knew it was loved.
The backing bands and vocalists of Keys and Beyoncé were a delight in and of themselves, each performing tight work alongside their respective artists.
With another show taking place at The Pond on the April 21, it would be well worth hard-earned work-study dollars to go and check out this concert. Missy never tours, and who knows how long it will be before the world gets to see Beyoncé up close and personal again? Truly, "Ladies First" put talent first, and at the end of the day, that's what it is all about.
By Robert Thomas,
daily trojan