Anyone here go the the LL Cool J concert at Reliant? I heard it broke the rodeo attendance record so I figured someone here saw it.
Who else was there besides LL Cool J? There is no way LL Cool J could fill up an arena for a concert, much less a football stadium.
Ashanti treats fans to spectacular show New genre may have made Heritage Day history By MICHAEL D. CLARK Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle When Black Heritage Day at RodeoHouston began 11 years ago, it was a chance to honor the greats of R&B, soul and Motown. In the past, the annual event has hosted such legends as Smokey Robinson, Patti LaBelle and Earth Wind & Fire. One could look at a lineup of LL Cool J and Ashanti on Friday at Reliant Stadium and decide that history has been forgotten. One would be wrong. While the architects are still respected, a new generation of history-makers is in their prime. Making their RodeoHouston debuts, LL Cool J is a hip-hop pioneer, while Ashanti is a promising newcomer and a recent Grammy recipient. Around the concourses, the usual assortment of shiny belt buckles and boots were mixed with fuzzy Kangol hats and Versace glasses, stylish tributes to the performers on stage. After 10 days of cowboy hats and denim taking the stage in the center square of the rodeo pen, Ashanti could've short-circuited the giant video screens above her in her slinky halter and Pocahontas-inspired miniskirt. Beginning with Baby and Call, Ashanti uncovered the secret of having good sound at the rodeo. Incorporating only a live DJ with recorded instrumentals, she was able to pipe all of her notes through the sound system and use it like a massive karaoke machine. Some might call this cheating, but it made octave-scaling jams, such as Movies, decipherable. Cuts from her Grammy-winning, self-titled debut album that depended on a heavier bass, such as hit-single Foolish, suffered more. Regardless of sound, Ashanti's 30-minute program was a visual success. She won the crowd by bringing a college student onstage and serenading him to the ballad Rescue. Even when LL Cool J is standing in the unfamiliar surroundings of a rodeo arena, he attacks the microphone like he's in a boxing ring. Pumped like a prizefighter, LL promptly went to work on the record crowd of 68,505 with a mix of skilled stanzas and muscle-flexing braggadocio on My Radio, the vinyl-scratching cut from his 1985 debut. Listening to him move from the early rock rap of I'm Bad to the more recent The G.O.A.T. is like taking a tour through the history of East Coast rhymes. Some songs, such as Around the Way Girl, with its light R&B swing chorus, have held up well. Others, such as the tubular bells of Jingling Baby and the ballad I Need Love, sounded as dated as disco. Just like Ashanti, LL rendered the sound problems secondary with a chest-baring, sexually suggestive stage show that seemed more risque because of his distance from the audience. Women screamed for every gyration, but more than a few parents probably were shuddering. Mixing rap and rodeo was a first, and truly made for one of RodeoHouston's most distinctive nights. It will be interesting to see if a PG-13 presentation like this will preclude the genre from being invited back to Reliant Stadium.
I would have loved to have gone just to hear old school LL... but to listen to that Ashanti crap? You'd have to drug me or kill me first.
