Chris Brown Performs @ The Nokio Theatre

As usual, I found myself at another concert in New York City.  This time it centered around one of the more polarizing and controversial figures of the year, Chris Brown. The Chris Brown Appreciation Tour had its stop at the Nokio Theatre in Times Square and here’s a run down of how the whole event played out.

Before anyone even appeared on stage to perform, NYC mainstay DJ Enuff had the crowd rocking for quite some time with a playlist that included all of your favorite hits and even some you may not have heard in awhile. The first act on stage were the New Boyz. Whether it be from a lack of songs to perform or sheer unfamiliarity New York has with their music, the crowd was initially reluctant to gravitate towards them. They spoke through Young Money‘s “Bed Rock” and LL Cool J‘s “I Need Love.” However, they went for their bread and butter when they performed “Jerk” much to the crowd’s enthusiasm.

After the New Boyz left the stage, there was an intermission of Michael Jackson songs and the crowd knew exactly who was about to hit the stage. After and introduction by both Angie Martinez and DJ Enuff, Chris came out to a standing ovation and performed the songs “I Can Transform Ya“, “Wall To Wall“, “Gimme That” and even had a dance sequence to Jay-Z‘s “On To The Next One.” His DMV upbringing was an obvious addition to his set as he incorporated gogo and gogo dancing quite often into his routine. Before another intermission, Brown performed his first single, “Run It”, and the entire crowd sang along as if it were choir practice.

Special guest Juelz Santana made an appearance as the two performed their record “Back To The Crib“, which transitioned into an impromptu freestyle over Drake and Timbaland‘s “Say Something.” Soon after Chris would go on to speak to the ladies in attendance telling them he was, “looking for a NY girl who was smart, have body and smell good.” Of course, this was a perfect segway into his hip-hop influenced duet with Ester Dean, “Drop It Low. ” “Excuse Me Miss” was the next song he performed which lead to a dance intermission where he danced to “Every Girl” and R. Kelly‘s classic lovemaking anthem, “Bump N’ Grind.” ‘The country boy from Tappahannock’ kept the dance scene going by dancing to old school hits “This Is How We Do It“, “Poison” and “Candy Rain.”

 

 

One of the biggest complaints at award shows this year was the fact Chris Brown was never able to perform a tribute to his idol, Michael Jackson. He did so last night by performing his best rendition of “Billie Jean” and even reenacting his dance scene from Thriller. Chris would eventually close the show off by performing new records from his new album Graffiti, highlighted by the ballad “Crawl”, and even jumping into the crowd.

 

 

All in all, Chris Brown the performer is exactly who I suspected him to be. He’s talented, he’s engaging and he’s entertaining. Regardless of what happens in his personal life, his talent should never be underestimated. One of the best things he’s done recently is delete his Twitter account, which forces the gossip hungry public to focus more on his music than his personal life. The way it should be.