Rihanna (Robyn Rihanna Fenty) broke a world record by being the youngest artist to ever sell out all 67 000 tickets at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Sunday 13 October and proceeded to sell out at her Cape Town Stadium concert which took place on Wednesday 16 October. The Barbados beauty was indeed very proud of her achievement and took to Twitter and Instagram to say: “$old OWT $tadium tonight!!! Thank you #CAPETOWN I’ll remember you.” She has clearly left her mark on our country’s musical pathways, having millions of her Navy fans roaring and chanting her name. Her successful Diamonds World Tour has captivated audiences in Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, France, Belgium, the UK, US, Canada already and it was a gruelling six month wait since tickets were released for sale earlier in April this year for her SA visit. Social networks were abuzz with preparation for her concert with fans arranging their Rihanna-inspired ensembles months before; creating a fashion frenzy of styles that is uniquely RiRi iconic. Wine & Russian red coloured lipstick were spotted on the lips of every second person encountered while her tracks blasted in all the vehicles stuck in traffic on Nelson Mandela Boulevard entering the city bowl.
Weather in Cape Town was a cool 21 degrees which marked a perfect climate for everyone to chill before the supporting act GTA, a US duo, kept the crowd on their feet with their dance tracks. As the air grew colder, so did many people’s hair which created an influx in ladies’ bathrooms. The lucky ones got to stay behind and bounce around inflated condoms that are usually making an appearance at concert events.
Rihanna was surprisingly quick to the stage, scheduled to start at 20:00 and arriving 40 minutes later, which is a big step up from the diva’s tardiness at her performance in New Zealand & Australia. She entered into song with a cheetah print onesie that displayed her lovely toned legs and a matching sateen jacket while singing the first track off her new album entitled Phresh off the Runway. The many voices of the crowd flooded the stadium and excitement quickly grew as RiRi showed off her island roots and twerked her luscious bottom and grinded her hips seductively, leaving those who managed to get some footage wanting to learn and copy those moves at home. Some of the usual radio-played hits she is famous for left the crowd singing along, tracks like: Umbrella, S&M, Man Down, Only Girl, Where Have You Been, Birthday Cake and her new single Pour it Up. There were some tracks that some people really wished she had included: Pon de Replay, Unfaithful, Cheers (I’ll drink to that), and Who’s that Chick just to name a few.
After about 60 minutes on stage, the lights went dark, the band and Rihanna herself disappeared off stage leaving all her fans screaming “WE WANT MORE, WE WANT MORE!!” she reappeared to deliver a captivating performance of Stay. Those up close could sense the heartfelt emotions (possibly still a scar left by Chris Brown?) that ran through her vocal chords while she continued to wow the audience with her quality live performance that has been subject to much ridicule since her last visit to South Africa in 2006 as an opening artist to hip hop icon Jay-Z. She has definitely come a long way since then, showcasing her vocal ability while belting out What Now along with her fans. She ended the night with the famous Diamonds which left everyone having the lyrics stuck in their heads for at least 2 days after, and then exited the stage with the South African flag attached to her back which serves as a great sign that she has a lot of respect for our country and its people.
The Diamonds World Tour in Cape Town is receiving a lot of mixed reviews with die-hard fans not being able to give her enough credit for how awesome the experience was for them. There have also been many complaints along the lines of:
●Poor sound quality.
●Her lack of wardrobe changes.
●Too much lip syncing.
●Comparisons to other artists.
●Too much emphasis placed on the performance of ‘not well-known’ songs off her new album Unapologetic.
In my personal opinion, people are either going to hate or love you and if you’re going to pay to see an artist and you have a 30-50% knowledge of their music, don’t buy a golden circle ticket. Maybe try if you can score some free ones in a radio competition & go for the experience because concerts are aimed at the true fans and not for to be seen because it’s the event of the season.
Lissa Says... 