Beyonce concert

i've never had the desire to attend a Beyonce concert but Maria asked if i wanted to join her and i couldn't see a reason not to. she's a great role model for girls everywhere so why not support someone who has proven to be an amazing example for teens (and even grownups) to look up to? she's hard working, classy, beautiful, private, kind and philanthropic. oh, and then there's the fact that she's got a ton of hit songs and can equally dance and sing at the same time with an aggressive amount of passion. i've got to say, 'twas a very entertaining show to experience. her fans are clearly dedicated to her and for good reason. she's one hell of an entertainer!

Rock The Bells

Redman, lifted into the crowd.

i'm not sure what it is about me, but the moment i find myself with a bit of free time, i do this really tiring thing where i fill up my schedule so that there's no room for lounging or catching up on tv. this past weekend i initially had no plans and thought to myself "hmm...that's weird," but welcomed the idea of doing a whole lot of nothing for a couple of days. then during one very short conversation with a friend, the notion of chillin' on a couch was thrown out the window and by 4pm friday afternoon i had a ticket to Rock The Bells.

what does this entail? Rock The Bells is a two day hip-hop festival. that means huge crowds. a lot of rap. a lot of Humbolt County grown haze. which means a lot of snacks. as well as a lot of time laying out on a blanket. and while this all sounds like it's worthy of the category "chill-things-to-do," i assure you, it's tiring as all hell. i mean, dancing was absolutely involved, along with a lot of head bobbing and thrown deuces in the air. it's a wonder how my arm is still attached to it's socket and my neck isn't sore. oh....that sounds bad. anyhow, ten-ish hours of alla that for two days in a row is sort of exhausting. 

Smart Food white cheddar popcorn and good ol' Cracker Jacks never tasted so good! that salty sweet goodness hit the spot. this, of course, is amongst a ton of other snacks such as Gushers, Fruit by the Foot, Peachie O's and sandwiches. all very necessary.

so the line-up for this gig was pretty damn awesome. we kept it old school and focused on the stuff i'm used to hearing. i sorta stopped listening to a lot of hip-hop half way through high school so i couldn't even tell you what track is Kid Cudi's or whether or not i like Tyga. on day 1 we saw Jadakiss, Salt-N-Pepa, DMX, Wu Block, a couple of songs from J Cole, Ice Cube and Redman/Method Man. day 2 consisted of Mix Master Mike, Slick Rick, Supernatural, Common, Atmosphere, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and Nas.

i'm sort of dumbfounded about Salt-N-Pepa not singing Let's Talk About Sex. it seems like a song they'd have to perform, but i guess that's not the case. i didn't know who Supernatural was prior to sunday, so i was surprised at what a crazy good freestyler he is. he asked the audience to hand him random things and he'd put it in his rap. i'm not really sure how someone would work Cheez-its into lyrics off the top of their head but he made it happen with ease. who i really came to see though was Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. i remember listening to the radio on my old ass boom box late at night waiting for Crossroads, First of the Month, or Days of Our Lives to come on so that i could record the songs on mixtapes. of course i'd only keep them on cassette tapes until i finally got my hands on their singles. remember those? damn, the good ol' days. 

that's a good way to sum up what Rock the Bells was. it brought me back to the good ol' days. 

*somehow i don't have any pictures of myself or the people i was with. errrr i guess i don't have very many pictures at all. that's not typical of me. i'm not sure how that happened. oh wait, yeah i do.

Nicki Minaj concert

Nicki Minaj is one of those artists you either understand or think is appalling. personally, i dig her. and if you've been following my blog, you'd already know that from this post and this post. i think she's super creative and pretty bad ass. and while some of her lyrics would make her out to be the cockiest woman of all time, it doesn't come from nowhere. she works really hard to make her money. this is evident in the fact that within an hour you can't listen to a hiphop radio station without hearing her voice at least once, whether it be her own music or a feature on someone else's track.  but, watch her interacting with Sofia Grace and Rosie and she might win you over.

Natasha and i went to see her in concert last night at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland and thought it'd be hysterical to dress up. quite honestly these getups were pretty embarrassing up until we actually joined the mass of people who were also dressed up in colorful wigs and bright colors. overall i'm glad we dressed up. it definitely added to the experience. 

hmm, never get this haircut ever in my life? i think so. 

cute, yes?

222:365 the paramount

i'm not religious by any means but this image was sort of striking as we waited for the concert to start.

haha, we look photoshopped! 

the concert was crazy fun, mostly because the audience was really into it. the whole balcony bounced whenever everybody was dancing, Natasha and i included. actually, at some point i sorta worried that the balcony would collapse under us and we'd be a mess of wigs and tutus but that didn't happen. plus, the venue was in Oakland, so you'd think their balcony was built to support all of that anticipated ghetto dancing.   she did a lot of songs from Roman Reloaded, a few from Pink Friday, parts from her features on other peoples albums, and some of her OG stuff from her mixtape days. and guess what song she closed the show with. why Super Bass, of course! good times! 

Coldplay

i've wanted to see Coldplay in concert for a really long time now. when the opportunity arose, i bought two tickets with nobody in mind to go with. i just knew i wanted to go and that it would be ridiculous to go by myself. as i asked around to see if anybody really liked the band, i was met with a lot of "yeah, they're cool," but never a "hells yeah i do!" then finally i found Ciara. she said she loved Coldplay and the decision was made. plus, she's fun.

myself and miss CiCi

they gave us these bracelets as we walked through the door. initially i thought "this thing is ugly. why would i ever wear this? where's the trash can?" but then i realized that it was a device of some sort and probably had a purpose.

then as soon as Coldplay began to play the bracelet lit up, along with everybody else's in the audience. it was pretty awesome, i've gotta say. the whole crowd's bracelets blinked in unison or varied based on what effect they were going for. 

it's like christmas!

i had purchased my tickets fairly late after the date they went on sale, so we ended up with crappy side stage seats in the nose bleed level. but i've been to so, so, SO many concerts in my life where i've been on the floor or right up against stage and i'm over it. nowadays i just want to feel the vibe of the venue and listen to the bands play live. i need not be right up front anymore.

this was truly one of the best concerts i've ever been to. Chris Martin's voice is perfect. he pretty much sounds exactly like the digital tracks do. and he is so lively when he's on stage. you really feel his passion for the music and that's what makes the concert. while the sea of blinking lights was cool, it's never about the glitter and the dazzle. what's most important is that the band convinces us that what they're singing about is true to them. Coldplay convinces. my favorite was probably when they played "Fix You."

man, that was an effing great concert!!