Performance Review - Janet Jackson ft. Ludacris

Last night I attended the “Together Again” tour featuring Janet Jackson (JJ) with Ludacris. This matchup was an odd pairing to go on tour together. Despite that, it was an overall good concert.

I am not a JJ fan, so I was just there for the experience.

The show started exactly on time, and Luda gave us a thirty-five-minute set. He came out to his Southern fried intro off the “Chicken & Beer” album, which is my favorite song because he went off on that track. Luda is such an underrated rapper. He used hilarious props like giant shoes and big arms, as he did in his music videos. Not sure how he was walking across the stage in those shoes without falling flat on his face.

His performance was good, but he could have gotten deeper into his catalog. He did too many feature songs and cut a lot of his hits short, which I didn’t like, not to mention his hype man was kind of eh for me.

I Didn’t think he added to the performance, but the crowd energy was great, and Luda got us ready to receive Janet. Unfortunately, that energy went as we waited 30 minutes for Janet to take the stage. There was no DJ to keep the crowd engaged and moving, and older old-school music played in the background.

As I looked, there was a lot of yawning going on. Luda should have been able to fill that void.

Regardless, once Janet hit the stage, it was back on and popping. The screams were so loud my ears started popping. Her fans are one of a kind, and I loved all the outfit tributes. Auntie did a good job; she gave us an hour and forty-five-minute performance, and I could tell she was having a great time up there on that stage.

Her band was phenomenal, and I loved the choreography throughout the show, and her dancers are adorable. She still got it.

Also, I loved that one of the dancers was from Detroit, and she showcased him. She had five acts and celebrated 50 years of music; it was amazing to see.

As I said, I’m not a fan, so it was a little touch-and-go for me. I knew maybe ten songs at best, and the rest I was trying to figure out was singing live or lip singing (both) and what words she was saying because it was a little hard to understand her.

As we got an hour into her set, that energy started to die down. I looked around mostly everyone was sitting in their seats and enjoying the show. She picked it back up after a little while as she got the crowd involved and let us sing the song “Again” and boy were they singing. 34 songs later, she ended the show with “Together Again.”

Although I’m not a fan the show kept my attention, and it did not disappoint, it was a great experience.