This weekend I got to attend the Boost Mobile Rock Corps event at NYC’s famed Radio City Music Hall. The concert was the big payoff for thousands of NYC kids who volunteered at least 4 hours of community service at various sponsored events throughout the city.
The lineup was totally A-list, with performances by Nelly, Taking Back Sunday, Fabolous, Kelis and Nas, Young Jeezy, Panic! at the Disco, and T.I. I already did a write-up on So More Scene, but here are some extra tidbits about the show:
Nelly was the first performer of the night, and he and his crew made their entrance in grand style–with a classic convertible rising up to the stage on a hydraulic lift with Nelly and crew inside, all the meanwhile flames shot up from the stage–a total Great White moment. One dude in Nelly’s crew had more mobile communication units than a freaking T-Mobile store–and all of them bling-ed out with diamonds and strapped on his belt like the world’s most expensive tool belt.
During his bit, Nelly pulled a girl out of the audience to sing a song with him. He asked her if she knew all the songs and if she was ready to perform in front of all these people. She said she was. Then the DJ started to play the opening chords of “Dilemma“, Nelly’s duet song with Kelly Rowland. He asked her again if she was ready, because it was her, not him, who would have to go back and face all her classmates the next day. Ok, so it was Saturday, but we got what Nelly was saying. The girl said she was ready.
Over the course of the song, the girl started to groove real close to Nelly, I think at one point with her arm slung around his shoulder. You could tell that Nelly was all, “Uh, don’t get too close to me,” it was pretty funny.
Well Kelis came on, she started off with the song “Millionaire” (the duet with Andre 3000), which was possibly the worst song she could have chosen to sing for this crowd. “Millionaire” is an ok song, but it’s kinda slow, and this was a hip hop crowd. It totally didn’t fly.
“Milkshake” fared a little bit better, but something funny happens when Kelis performs live–since she performs with a live band, her music sounds really pop rock, which is confusing because she’s more hip hop than rock. Her new song, “Bossy” was also received pretty well. But the crowd really went crazy when her main man, Nas, came out at the end of her set and they did “If I Ruled the World” together. You could really tell how in love they are, when Nas walked pass Kelis, he outstretched his arm and touched her cheek.
During one of the many between-band-breaks a commotion errupted out of nowhere. Everyone in the balcony was screaming and howling–apparently a fight had broken out in the center aisle. Some dude picked up his microphone and called for security, then gave some stern words about how those dudes must not have “done their 4 hours” and that any man who came to this event and faught with girls “must be gay”. WHaaaaAAA? That was a really confusing moment. Yes, I’m against fighting, but no, I’m not for linking negative behavior with being gay.
T.I. closed the night and totally tore the house down peforming hits like “Why U Wanna”. Oh and I’m still not entirely sure why T.I. came onstage with a huge designer backpack slung over his shoulder. I thought for sure he was going to reach into it at any moment during his performance and start throwing money into the crowd–but alas, no such thing was done. In fact some dude just stood there holding the backpack the whole time and then when the show was over, he took the backpack pack and slung it back over his shoulder. Who does he think he is with his mystery bags, Antony of Antony and the Johnsons?
