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Destiny's Child shows off, but ...
By GINA VIVINETTO
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- MTV's TRL Tour, which arrived Saturday at the Ice Palace, is about showcasing some of the hottest, most requested names in pop music. The tour is an offshoot of the network's wildly popular program TRL, or Total Request Live. Of course, its lineup was announced four months ago, an eternity for the fickle MTV demographic, adolescents with wickedly short attention spans. Thankfully, headliner Destiny's Child is enjoying MTV and Billboard chart success with its latest album, Survivor. Several of its ebullient R&B numbers are current radio hits. But the tour's other artists, rappers Nelly and Eve, are nowhere near the top of the charts. What's more, both perform harsh, adult-themed rap out of step with the self-affirming girl power pop of Destiny's Child. The crowd, reported at just less than 10,000, roared as the three members of Destiny's Child emerged on a platform, posed in the famous gun-toting Charlie's Angels stance. Dressed in gold lame short shorts, backed by a bevy of dancers, the young women sang Independent Women, Part I. The act was the bill's only to utilize a live backing band, adding depth to its delivery. The momentum didn't die as the trio zipped through the hits Bills, Bills, Bills and the irresistible Say My Name. Later, dressed in white gowns, the trio -- Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michele Williams -- sang soaring harmonies on a syrupy cover of Emotion by the Bee Gees. Though Knowles is known as the band's leader and diva, Williams' lead vocal on a rendition of the Five Stairsteps' Ooh Child was greeted enthusiastically by fans. Of course, that was followed by Knowles on Dangerously In Love, so determined to display her vigorous vocal chops, she came across like a panicky chihuahua -- yapping squeals, pained facial expression, gulps for air -- too desperate for attention. The set's highlight was certainly the smash hits Survivor and Bootylicious, with each Child, now donning a fedora, shimmying her "jelly." Hip hop is a genre famous for being unable to deliver the goods in a live setting. Saturday saw those pitfalls in Eve's set, which was wild but meandering. Dressed in skintight black pants and shirt, the pink-haired rapper who calls herself a "pit bull in a skirt" gave the Tampa audience a slice of her street aesthetic, which is based on Eve's ability to be as brazen and obnoxious as any artist in rap's boys club. Eve's brief set included the hit Who's That Girl? Nelly fared better, although his loose, combustible set unwound toward its end. The rapper from St. Louis was last in town as part of the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXV. Nelly and his posse of St. Lunatics showcased their busy, multi-vocaled "dirty South" style in the form of the hit Country Grammar (Hot) and Batter Up, incorporating a rap of the theme to The Jeffersons. Unremarkable opening acts came in the form of Dream, an all-girl singing quartet created by Sean Combs, aka. P. Diddy, aka Puff Daddy. Before Dream, 3LW, whose name is an acronym for "Three Little Women," sang and danced to prerecorded music, similar to an activity practiced by many of us as teenagers in the privacy of our bedrooms. Except we didn't have record deals.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the wire |
