The Down Low Top Secret Tour: Miami Show Review

Sun- Sentinel: R. Kelly's Bawdy Show Has The Fans Screaming
June 10, 1996|By SHERRI WINSTON Staff Writer

After a six-minute cartoon brought 9,000 screaming fans (capacity 10,000) to their feet at the Miami Arena, R. Kelly took the stage and asked the musical question: "Miami, do you want me to take off my pants?''

Whether or not he should remove his pants remained a dominant theme throughout Kelly's bawdy but well-staged show Friday night.

Top Secret: The Down Low Tour relied heavily on multi-media gimmickry.

Ditching the fog machines and explosions, Kelly's show featured videos and computerized images.

A large screen sliced the darkness, drawing attention to the animated short featuring Kelly as a cartoon mobster.

Once he defeated the animated bad guys, Kelly arrived on stage, via a stretch land cruiser. By the time he took the mike, Kelly's fans were absolutely panting.

So it seemed odd that he opened with Be Happy, a number that has received little airplay. During the song, when he held the mike out so the audience could sing along, the silence was embarrassing.

Undaunted, and still fully clothed, Kelly dashed from one corner to the other, working the stage like a gymnast trying to use all the mat.

Curiously, Kelly interspersed his performance with unnecessary profanity. A definite distraction from his sexy appeal.

Between all the dancing, writhing, stripping and video footage, Kelly did manage to sing, too. And when he did, it was powerful, soulful and sensual.

His performance, which lasted a little over an hour, included Bump n' Grind, Sex Me and Down Low.

While Kelly's self-titled latest CD, R. Kelly, gained recognition for having songs that are more romantic than the openly sexual songs on 12 Play, much of his stage show was a "grab your crotch" production. And there's nothing romantic about that.

The Down Low Top Secret Tour: Chicago Tribune Review

R. Kelly Expands His Horizons
 April 25, 1996|By Greg Kot, Tribune Rock Critic.

It used to be the only drama at an R. Kelly concert was what color underwear he would be wearing that night as part of the bump-and-grind burlesque that would be the climax, so to speak, of every performance.

Kelly, the South Side crooner who has become the masculine heartthrob in rhythm and blues with a trio of salacious, sexy and sometimes downright soulful albums that have sold more than 7 million copies, was at it again Tuesday in the first of three concerts at the UIC Pavilion.

But Kelly's showmanship has also taken on a broader dimension since his 1994 tour, even if there were hip-quaking, thigh-thrusting moments when it still appeared as though a live squirrel was tucked in his pants desperately searching for an escape route.

Stalking a three-tiered stage like a restless lover and an inflamed preacher, the eager-to-please singer turned the arena into a bedroom and a church, a place where secrets and sins, desires and disappointments were confessed.

Peeling off his suit, with suspenders dragging and T-shirt rumpled, Kelly declared, "I don't want to offend nobody. I just want to tell the truth tonight."

Los Angeles Times: The Down Low Top Secret Tour Review

Heating Up the Place : R. Kelly's Forceful Voice, Rather Than the Gimmicks, Make the Show

May 28, 1996 | CHEO HODARI COKER | TIMES STAFF WRITER

There's a reason why R. Kelly felt the need to drop his trousers in front of 12,000 adoring fans on Sunday at the Pond of Anaheim, his eyes closed and arms held skyward as if caught in some type of religious rapture.

It wasn't just about teasing the screaming women in the audience or revealing his taste in briefs. It was all about self-expression--showing his fans that he wants to let go.

And throughout his 90-minute performance, Kelly thoroughly let go, pouring unmitigated sexuality and dynamic soul into each and every vocal.

The Chicago native's combination of sexual bravado and musical invention has made the singer-writer-producer one of the leading forces in R&B today, with three million-plus-selling albums, a string of hit singles (the latest was "Down Low") and one of the most eagerly anticipated tours of the season.

More than Kelly's pelvic thrusts and call-and-response theatrics, more than such stage gimmicks as a computerized R. Kelly head that helped him sing during "You Remind Me of Something," it was Kelly's explosive, forceful voice that left the night's greatest impression.

But he gave his vocals some strong competition with his inclination to remove his clothes, which he indulged repeatedly during the show. The more he took off, the louder the fans wailed, especially when the tempo slowed for throaty, seductive renditions of such suggestive ballads as "Slow Dance," "Seems Like You're Ready," "Bump N' Grind" and "Tempo Slow."

No matter how vulgar or outrageous Kelly's comments were or the action on stage became (at one point he emerged from a bathtub that was also occupied by a writhing, bikini-clad dancer), the female fans screamed with abandon.

This kind of erotic expression is often misused by R&B lovers, from Michael Jackson to Jodeci. In performance, it usually comes off as staged and distasteful, lacking any real emotional heat.

But somehow Kelly's approach--like those of Teddy Pendergrass or Prince--came across as strangely intimate, as if his pleading voice and forthright yearnings could somehow make each woman in the room feel as if he were speaking individually to her.

Kelly captured this intimacy most strongly with a stirring rendition of "I Can't Sleep Baby (If I)," a song about losing the love of his life and wanting her back. Opening the song, he removed the trademark sunglasses that symbolize the sexual superhero, then filled the air with ethereal, gospel-tinged tones. The sex of the previous 40 minutes evaporated and was replaced by love, and Kelly revealed a real heart. That, more than dropping his pants, was the show's real liberating moment.

Opening acts Solo, Xscape and LL Cool J also turned in highly effective, though brief performances. Xscape was particularly impressive with its vocal harmonies, especially during its hit "Who Can I Run To."