Janet Jackson - Concert Review

Janet Jackson held the crowd in the palm of her hand from the moment she emerged in a white stringy get-up on a pedestal. She kicked-off an adrenaline packed night with Come On Get Up as her eight dancers descended in elevator-like contraptions from the ceiling.

I was completely in awe of the energy oozing from the 35 year-old singer as she pulled some of the funkiest dance moves capable by the human body. So incredible, they seemed more robotic then anything human - especially by someone as petite as Jackson. On a few occasions it was almost as if her brother Michael Jackson had slipped onto the stage.

The crowd-pumping action only slowed down for a couple of ballads during the 29 songs so Janet could catch her breath. Things really started getting wild when she emerged out of the fog in a vampire-like leather number as her alien demon dancers lurked around in a Thriller-ish version of Trust A Try. Yes - I was transfixed on the moves but her voice sounded great and her band was pretty wicked too. The stage, costumes and special effects were really extreme but they didn't show her up.

The soft spoken Miss Jackson was not soft spoken on stage. She was in complete control of herself and her audience for the entire night. Highlights included old faves like Miss You Much, If and Black Cat. One of my favorite sets of the evening was the medley of 80s hits What Have You Done For Me Lately, Control and Nasty as she screamed "My name's not baby - It's Janet - Miss Jackson if you're nasty!" She was overcome with emotion on a couple of occasions as the crowd screamed for a few minutes straight and she choked back the tears as if she couldn't believe this was all for her.

One lucky guy made it up on stage where he quickly became a prop for Janet's performance of Would You Mind. (He didn't seem to mind!) A bit timid at first, he tried his hardest not to cry, as thousands of people watched every blink on a huge screen. He appeared to be in shock. Who wouldn't be? He even got a couple of kisses. The song closed with Janet and him decending into the stage floor.

Janet was great at working the crowd and had an incredible stage presence. She even had the audience singing with her on a number of songs. There wasn't a dull moment throughout the entire evening. And when it did end, after two hours, no one wanted to leave.

Janet's Vancouver show may have been rescheduled but it was well worth the wait. She gave a kick-butt show that will have people talking for days. I walked away with some really cool memories and I am really happy I got to see one of pop music's major icons. I finally realize what all the fuss is about.

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