RNB Fridays review: Janet Jackson highlights mixed Marvel Stadium show
Although most of the crowd hadn’t yet been born when she rose to stardom, Janet Jackson’s short and sweet Marvel Stadium masterclass stood out at a crowded RNB Fridays festival, writes Cameron Adams.
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RNB Fridays is an interesting concert experience.
Spawned from a radio concept, it’s grown from nightclub to arena to stadium in a matter of years.
The imported talent is a mix of artists who had a hit or two a decade or two ago to actual superstars with too many hits to shoehorn into a festival set.
Last year the brand upsized to festivals with Usher as headliner. However, in Melbourne the night was marred by complaints of poor sound at the venue formerly known as Etihad Stadium and difficulties getting access to bars and toilets.
This year they landed their biggest fish yet – an actual living legend in Janet Jackson. And judging by the amount of liquored up patrons, access to bars had been improved.
But it’s hard to tell whether RNB Fridays fans are too young to know who Janet is, or maybe preferred the night in a smaller venue, as the night was far from a sell out but also far from a disaster.
To Janet Jackson. She’s not played too much on RNB Fridays’ radio show – certainly not her 80s material anyway.
Indeed, many of the crowd weren’t born when her breakthrough album, 1986’s classic Control, was released.
With the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer not doing any side shows, her fanbase queued up to get to the front of the stage, meaning she was at least playing to diehards to increase the all important vibe.
But there were awkward moments, like when she became her own hypewoman to get a response from the lyric in 1995 hit Runaway where she namechecks Australia. The fact she stopped and repeated the lyric to get a reaction at least silenced those who felt her show has zero live vocals – clearly Jackson sings over her own vocals as she’s basically putting on a 45 minute aerobic dance work out that also doubles as a history of pop music stretching back to 1986. You go to a Janet Jackson show for a full performance, and the 53-year-old isn’t phoning it in.
Make no mistake, Janet Jackson still delivers a masterclass in how to put on a show. She schooled everyone watching on just how a real superstar can make an impact, no matter where she is or how long she has.
That was one problem – as well as coming on late, Jackson’s 45 minute medley was shorter than the sets that came before her by Black Eyed Peas and 50 Cent.
You get at least 15 huge Janet Jackson hits in the relentless megamix, but just bits of them – but at least it kept the energy going.
There’s Control, Nasty, If, You Want This, When I Think Of You, Go Deep, Together Again, Escapade, Miss You Much, What Have You Done For Me Lately, Got Til It’s Gone, That’s The Way Love Goes, Runaway, All For You and Rhythm Nation in the mix. But no Black Cat, Love Will Never Do (Without You), The Best Things in Life Are Free … all things that would have bumped the set out to an hour at least.
The fact the biggest singalong moment was probably 1997’s Together Again demonstrated the younger demographic she was playing to. Many of her older fans would have probably preferred to see her in a smaller venue where they could sit down and not risk being swilled with beer by a millennial.
Jackson also made a statement by performing her hit duet with late brother Michael, Scream, with his voice booming out and their video playing behind her. She didn’t reference him, besides “Let’s go Mike” at the start of the track, but considering journalists aren’t allowed to ask her about him or the Leaving Neverland documentary, it was a rare public commentary – she hasn’t been doing the track on her US tour.
#janetjackson #queen #michaeljackson #rnbfridays
— Artcey1 (@trarig_heart_mj) November 9, 2019
It’s like I died and went to Jackson heaven with this song... she blew the roof off! I’m gonna be sore for days from dancing... pic.twitter.com/od5BBhddPO
It would have been nice to have more of a production (at times the video backdrop looked like someone’s screen saver) and more dancers, but this wasn’t her big-budget Vegas show, rather a tweaked version of the festival set.
Should she have been headlining a 20-something-skewed festival or doing her own tour in Australia for her first visit in nearly a decade? That’s debatable.
Black Eyed Peas are still touring without Fergie. Although like their AFL Grand Final appearance last year, many people still don’t realise that.
Her replacement Jessica Reynoso does a great job, but to be honest lacks the star power Fergie delivered.
With their live band, will.i.am and co bring the hits – Boom Boom Pow, Where is the Love, Pump It, Let’s Get It Started – even if the dire Dirty Bit has aged terribly.
A chatty will.i.am uses the occasion to remind the crowd how Australia gave the band their first hit record, pre-Fergie. And talks about playing at the Falls Festival, when Fergie had just joined the band, and how that established them as the version of the Peas we see now – the commercially successful version.
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solo career hasn’t done so well and the new Peas material isn’t storming the charts like the days of old – so maybe a reunion isn’t too far off.
Rapper 50 Cent also knows how to work a crowd. With his full live band and an adoring audience, Fiddy spread hits In Da Club, Magic Stick, Candy Shop and his trademark gunshot sound effects through his set.
Jason Derulo is already a proven hit maker to the younger demographic who make up most of the audience – frustratingly his best songs like The Other Side, Whatcha Say and It Girl were reduced to bite size portions, but you got all of Trumpets, Wiggle, Ridin’ Solo and Marry Me.
Brandy suffered from some sound problems, and with just a lone dancer for company, performed a quick set that saw her not only take on both parts of Monica duet The Boy is Mine, but truncate her biggest hit to barely 90 seconds. She did however perform all of Full Moon as partial compensation.
Sisqo (Thong Song), Keri Hilson (The Way I Are) and J-Kwon (Tipsy) also performed – enjoying the cruisy RNB Fridays experience of being flown half way around the world to bust out one or two songs and then take the rest of the night off.