Sun- Sentinel: Sexy R. Kelly Soothes Restless Miami Fans
July 1, 1999|By SHERRI WINSTON Staff Writer
In
a man-bites-dog twist, the Miami Arena audience performed its own song
and directed it toward the empty stage. "Boo, boo, boo," went the
chorus. Almost everyone sang along. The tune sounded somewhat off-key,
but it was catchy and easy to remember.
Fans at R. Kelly's Get Up On a Room tour chanted and catcalled intermittently for an hour and a half Tuesday night as they were forced to endure long lapses between opening acts.
Fans at R. Kelly's Get Up On a Room tour chanted and catcalled intermittently for an hour and a half Tuesday night as they were forced to endure long lapses between opening acts.
Kelly
Price's set was so short, she barely warmed the stage. Multi-platinum
artists Foxy Brown and Deborah Cox, whose names were used repeatedly in
radio ads to promote the show, never showed up.
By the time rapper Nas appeared shortly after 9, Miami showed little enthusiasm for the young star. The fans in the upper bowl sections were surely distracted, because as Nas performed a knife fight spilled from the seats into the concourse, leaving a trail of blood and eight stabbing victims.
"We quickly cleared the concourse and there was no delay in the show due to the fight," says Melissa Fronstin, director of sales and marketing for the Miami Arena.
Indeed, few spectators in other areas of the arena were aware of the fight, because by the time it erupted, restless fans were already squealing in disgust. It seemed possible the audience members would trade their Bics for torches and chase the R-man into the streets, forcing him to get up on a room elsewhere.
Oh, ye of little faith. When Kelly took the stage at 10 p.m., he entered to a resounding standing ovation and proceeded to feed the near-capacity crowd out of the palm of his gifted hand.
Does the R stand for resilient?
The Miami audience had been putting out a dangerously downbeat vibe, but Kelly captured its attention with his expert deployment of multimedia gimmickry. Heart-stopping bass boomed behind lollipop-colored images on the huge screen that hung center stage. Demonstrating his flair for showmanship, Kelly opened with a film short using an intergalactic theme. The message was clear: R. Kelly was going to save the planet from player haters.
With Kelly and Company posed in a beam-me-up-Scotty stance, the show moved from video to live action. A thunderous clap shook the stage, then Kelly and his posse sprang through the floor. Freeze frame: Kelly stood motionless, milking the room for every morsel of adoration as the crowd went wild.
And just like that, he had the below-capacity house of 7,000 singing a new tune.
Does the R stand for risque?
Tall, lean and all about his sexuality, Kelly groaned, thrust and gyrated his way through a collection of naughty favorites including I'm Loving You Tonight and Your Body's Calling. The man knows how to move and he knows how to use a stage. Running from one end to the other, pausing in the middle, he had women screaming to be with him and fellas pumping their fists to be like him.
After a video intermission, Kelly returned with his huge hit from '96, Bump and Grind. Taking a sip of water, he said, "I think I'm going to have to get a bit freakier."
By the time rapper Nas appeared shortly after 9, Miami showed little enthusiasm for the young star. The fans in the upper bowl sections were surely distracted, because as Nas performed a knife fight spilled from the seats into the concourse, leaving a trail of blood and eight stabbing victims.
"We quickly cleared the concourse and there was no delay in the show due to the fight," says Melissa Fronstin, director of sales and marketing for the Miami Arena.
Indeed, few spectators in other areas of the arena were aware of the fight, because by the time it erupted, restless fans were already squealing in disgust. It seemed possible the audience members would trade their Bics for torches and chase the R-man into the streets, forcing him to get up on a room elsewhere.
Oh, ye of little faith. When Kelly took the stage at 10 p.m., he entered to a resounding standing ovation and proceeded to feed the near-capacity crowd out of the palm of his gifted hand.
Does the R stand for resilient?
The Miami audience had been putting out a dangerously downbeat vibe, but Kelly captured its attention with his expert deployment of multimedia gimmickry. Heart-stopping bass boomed behind lollipop-colored images on the huge screen that hung center stage. Demonstrating his flair for showmanship, Kelly opened with a film short using an intergalactic theme. The message was clear: R. Kelly was going to save the planet from player haters.
With Kelly and Company posed in a beam-me-up-Scotty stance, the show moved from video to live action. A thunderous clap shook the stage, then Kelly and his posse sprang through the floor. Freeze frame: Kelly stood motionless, milking the room for every morsel of adoration as the crowd went wild.
And just like that, he had the below-capacity house of 7,000 singing a new tune.
Does the R stand for risque?
Tall, lean and all about his sexuality, Kelly groaned, thrust and gyrated his way through a collection of naughty favorites including I'm Loving You Tonight and Your Body's Calling. The man knows how to move and he knows how to use a stage. Running from one end to the other, pausing in the middle, he had women screaming to be with him and fellas pumping their fists to be like him.
After a video intermission, Kelly returned with his huge hit from '96, Bump and Grind. Taking a sip of water, he said, "I think I'm going to have to get a bit freakier."
Does the R stand for R-rated?
Everybody knows that to be a true sexy/freaky musical entertainer, you simply must have a bed prop.
For his grand finale, Kelly popped out of a puffy rose-red mattress, along with three leggy dancers. Singing Half on a Baby, the Big Consonant roamed the front of the stage in search of that special someone to join him. Who would he choose?
Hokey as the pick-a-girl-from-the-audience routine sounds, it still works. And few work it like Kelly, who appears poised to become the freak for the new millennium.
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