“I’m really shy, because I feel like all you guys are staring at me, sometimes you just need a little bit of love or what I like to call social lubrication.” – Rihanna
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Vibrant, sexy, colourful, and back with a vengeance, Rihanna’s second night of her Loud Tour Toronto stop was truly something to catch your attention.
Performing in the Air Canada Centre - the giant venue was packed to capacity - Rihanna appeared on a giant speaker shaped stage, dressed in a metallic blue trench coat and pink heels to begin the night by belting out the hit song “Only Girl in the World” from inside a Lady Gaga inspired bubble shaped cage.
From her song “Hate How Much I Love You” in which, dressed in a Romeo & Juliet inspired yellow gown, she started a crowd sing-along with her acoustic guitarist, to the songs “California Dreaming” and “Take a Bow”; where she uses the video screens to spotlight members of the audience, the bond with her fans is palpable as the rapture on the faces in the audience match that of her own grin.
The tank shoots a couple T-shirts into the audience as smoke from it turns into dust, then she performs break up hit “Breaking Dishes” raunchier than ever in a silver sequined dress.
She has many more over the top moments in this show including chart topper “S&M” in which, sporting a white corset, Rihanna watches four female dancer’s provocatively pole dance, and “Run This Town” where she walks through the crowd greeting each fan before taking to a small stage at the rear of the hall to play a drum solo, and sing a song.
Throughout the evening Rihanna showcases her dance skills, as she is in constant movement on every number.
From “Man Down” to “Skin”, to the older single “Let Me” the crowd's response shows that her older hits are still touching a chord with the fans.
Rapper’s B.O.B and J Cole opened the show with solid sets of their singles and hits. Both did a good job of warming the crowd up, and B.O.B dressed in bright yellow and purple pants picked up some local talent for his song “Airplanes”, performed with Toronto’s own Melanie Fiona.
Add to these performances a surprise visit from home town rapper Drake during Rihanna’s set and there was a lot of star power onstage over the course of the night.
Dressed in a purple sweater and dark blue jeans, Drake made an impassioned shout out to all Torontonian’s before performing his hit song “Over”.
He then segued with “I couldn’t do this without a little help from this girl right here” - and the crowd cheered loudly as they knew what was ahead - right into Rihanna’s hit song “What’s My Name”.
And coming back to the stage in a colourful multi-hued shall and denim bra and short shorts, Rihanna flirted with the charismatic Drake throughout this song against a backdrop of fire effects and writhing back up dancers.
Rihanna’s was the name front and center all night long, especially lit up on the giant screen behind her in this number, but it might come as a surprise that someone with such amazing concert presence could possibly be inhibited on stage.
She said: “I’m really shy, because I feel like all you guys are staring at me, sometimes you just need a little bit of love or what I like to call social lubrication.”
However Rihanna really did do justice to the party inference in the LOUD moniker for the tour as this bold show, so full of life and exuberance, reflects a persona expressed with fun, colourful, sexy tones all while maintaining an edgy playful side throughout.
All Photos and Text copyright Torontowide.com.
All Rights Reserved 2011
Imagery taken by Photographer Douglas Brown with the Olympus E5 with Zuiko 50-200mm SWD 2.8 lens
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