The student news site of Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif.

Whitney Update

The student news site of Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif.

Whitney Update

The student news site of Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif.

Whitney Update

Rihanna and Ke$ha dazzle in summer concert

Ladies and gentlemen: to those among you who are easily frightened, we suggest you turn away now. To those of you who think they can take it, we say: Welcome to the Last Girl on Earth Tour.
On July 9th, 2010, hundreds of pop-music fans lined up outside Arco Arena, fully prepared for Rihanna’s first headlining tour, featuring Travie McCoy and Ke$ha.
Half were dressed in off the shoulder shirts and cowboy boots with glitter sprinkled through their crimped hair for Ke$ha. The rest were decked out in the most punk-rock outfits they could find in their closet for Rihanna.
Because the concert seat situation was completely assigned-seating, there were hardly any pushes or shoves…unless you count the merch table.
The lights in the arena were still on while everyone scooted to their correct seats and prepared for one of the most exciting concerts of the summer.
Travie McCoy, the popular hip-hop artist who got his fame from the band Gym Class Heroes, took the stage and started rapping.
Even though the lights in the arena were still on, our eyes were still drawn to him jumping around on stage while making his raps sound identical to the sound of them on recording.
And of course, no one could help themselves from singing along to the Bruno Mars part of “Billionaire.” The crowd went nuts over one of their favorite radio tunes.
After McCoy’s performance, he turned the stage over to Ke$ha. But not before the crew set up multiple panels covered in lights on the stage. From all the sparkles and stage lights, you would have been able to tell who was performing next, even if it hadn’t been printed on your ticket.
Kesha Rose Sebert, better known as just Ke$ha, had arrived.
Dressed in a Native-American inspired diva party-girl outfit, as usual, she took the stage by storm with her background dancers and hilarious drunken attitude.
She started off with a radio favorite, “Blah Blah Blah.” Then continued by banging a set of drums to the intro to “Party at A Rich Dude’s House.” Shortly after, she sang “D-I-N-O-S-A-you are a dinosaur!” while clips of the movie “Dinosaur Island” played on the screens behind her.
Throughout all of her performances, she sounded close to how she sounds on her “Animal” CD. Even though over time, rumors have spread about how terrible of a live performer she’s been in the past, she proved every one of them wrong by a mile.
“Take it Off” was the next song, followed by “Your Love Is My Drug,” while the colorful partly-animated music video played on the back screens.
But after finishing that song, she announced she had good news and bad news. The bad news was, she only had one more song left to sing. The good news was…it was “Tik Tok.”
The crowd went wild even though they knew there was no way she would have come all the way to Sac-town and not perform her first No. 1 hit. And when the classic twangy beat of the intro started to play, everyone started screaming and preparing to sing along.
There wasn’t a single person in the audience who didn’t know all of the words.
The feeling of the lights, the glamorous stage, the crowd of energetic people, and the fact that one of the country’s biggest pop-stars is singing right in front of you is an unforgettable feeling. There’s a sense of humbleness in her personality on stage, that makes you feel like you’re not just one in a crowd at an arena watching her, but that you’re hanging out with her at some crazy Hollywood club.
The lights came back on after “Tik Tok,” and the crowd was feeling restless. Many were also slightly disappointed that Ke$ha had only performed six songs.
Similar questions were being asked all around, whether people asked it in their heads or said it out loud. “I wanted to hear her sing ‘Backstabber.’” “Why didn’t she perform ‘Stephen?’ She should have performed ‘Stephen.’” “She should have performed ‘Kiss N Tell.’”
She should have.
The minutes went by as everyone waited for the next performer. Every seat in the house was filled at that point. And the minutes started to feel like hours. To the point where fifteen minutes felt like the whole crowd of people had been waiting for Rihanna for at least a week.
It was 8:55. People started chanting her name. One man even screamed “Hurry up Rihanna! It’s almost nine!”, which caused the crowd to laugh.
Finally, the lights went off.
The screams that rose from the audience were deafening. It was so dark, that the only things in sight were hundreds of tiny distant glow-sticks and camera flashes. Most senses were sufficiently wiped out.
The main event was definitely about to start. There was finally a realization in the air that Travie McCoy and Ke$ha, as amazing as they were, were only appetizers there to prepare you for the entrée the people in the audience was about to experience.
And when the lights finally came on again, the stage is completely set and the colossal screens which had been set up during down-time, had become a dream-catcher of Rihanna’s fantasies and nightmare. Giant rugged-print black R’s resembling the ones on the “Rated R” CD cover float in the back of it all. A sinister sounding narrator welcomed everyone to the “Mad House,” while the edgy opening to her CD started to play.
The screen let the audience know that they might be dreaming and that the whole show might not be real.
And in the midst of the darkness and bloodcurdling-seeming set design, was Robyn Rihanna Fenty herself in a long black dress adorned with fiery red lights. Her infamous asymmetrical faux-hawk was a dulled yet flattering shade of brown with multiple shades of highlights spread throughout. She brought the microphone close to her mouth and advised the crowd to “Take a breath and take it deep”. She performed popular songs from both “Rated R” and “Good Girl Gone Bad” in her long dress.
But because it’s so difficult to dance in a floor-length gown, she had multiple costume changes, as any pop-star would.
The concert songs were split by theme into five parts. Each set of songs contained a little bit of each of her three CDs. Between each set of songs, she changed costumes and video interludes played to entertain the crowd during down-time. The videos consisted of theme-related compilations, past music videos, and a short “Rihanna Throughout the Years” tribute.
She changed into five different crazy unique outfits throughout the night. From the gown, to a catsuit, to a giant white cage outfit, and a black and white bumblebee-like dress with an exaggerated poofy skirt.
And if you thought Rihanna would be the only incredibly talented person to grace the stage during her performances, you would have been sorely mistaken.
Different songs had different stunts being pulled by the incredibly talented background dancers. There was a giant pink tank, which people were dancing on top of, acrobatics, a crazy huge jungle gym-like set up that the dancers did flips and tricks throughout. But the biggest crowd-pleaser was the stilt-walkers. Their outfits and stilts made them glow on the stage as they danced and did crazy tricks, towering over the audience.
But even though the stunts pulled on stage and the set design were incredibly flashy and flamboyant, and Rihanna’s performances were almost flawless, she still was incredibly modest and chose to connect with the audience.
Pop-stars, usually wrongfully associated with divas are usually accused of having cocky attitudes. So, the humble attitude that came across when Rihanna would stop and talk with her audience was refreshing. She spoke of how incredibly thankful she was to be able to live out her dream, how fortunate she feels, and how much she appreciates her fans.
She even teared up when talking about how happy she was that she was part of her first tour that she’d be headlining. Sacramento’s show at Arco Arena was her first performance of The Last Girl On Earth Tour in America.
When continuing on with the concert, she also continued with her record of making every note she sang sound better than the last.
Her voice was incredibly strong and controlled, yet didn’t sound quite like her CDs…but in a good way. She would freestyle her lyrics and draw out the endings to certain songs. And she made them sound even better than the original recordings.
She had performed about nineteen songs, finishing with “Take a Bow.” Then the lights went off completely. For a long amount of time.
The crowd was a bit disappointed because there were a few songs they were excited to hear that she didn’t perform. But everyone was still happy that at least she sang a good amount of songs and had done an amazing job.
Many people started to leave the arena. They stumbled down or up the stairs because of darkness, and started heading back to their cars.
But all of a sudden, more music started to play and the lights on the stage came back on.
The show was not yet over!
Unfortunately, some people had already left the building and had to do ticket checks once again to get back in. But other people just dashed in and sat wherever there were empty seats to hear the actual finale.
She was finally in her bumblebee finale costume.
She was going to sing the last few songs that people were excited to finally hear. “Live Your Life.” “Run This Town” and for the ultimate finale, “Umbrella.”
The crowd went nuts as confetti blasted from the ceiling and the strobe lights started hitting everything in sight. There wasn’t a single person not singing the “Eh’s” in the chorus of “Umbrella.”
At the end, she again thanked everyone for coming, and the lights to the arena turned back on for the last time.
And everyone went home with a few crazy stories to tell their friends.

By SYDNEY RODRIGUERA

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