Member Since: 9/6/2012
Posts: 2,507
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Billboard: Ciara Tour Is a 'Body Party' to Be Reckoned With
The accolades keep pouring in with Billboard's new rave review of Ciara's "Jackie" tour:
Quote:
Ciara has always been slightly outside the pop mainstream -- an R&B princess who never ascended the throne. But with six albums under her (eternally stylish) belt, there's no doubt that CiCi's been working. The proof was in the crowd at Tuesday's show in New York (May 5), the second stop on her Jackie tour.
Young, old, gay, straight -- every possible demographic was represented in the full house at Best Buy Theater, from the people who were 1, 2 stepping to a burned CD in 2005 to the ones who had maybe gotten a little scandalous to "Body Party" at their first high school dance. Make a crowd wait six years for your live show (her last American headlining dates were alongside Jay Z in 2009), and you can almost guarantee enthusiasm. The crowd, primed for the performance by the venue's limited edition "Turn it Up" cocktails ($12), started chanting "Ci-a-ra!" after waiting for just 10 minutes
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First things first: Ciara knows how to put on a show. After 12 years in the business (a number she mentioned during the show with just a hint of real disbelief), she's fully capable of giving the audience what they want and will bend over backwards (sometimes literally) to do so. Her Jackie tour is a theater-sized set-up with arena ambitions: a full band that sounded consistently stellar, three backup singers, two back-up dancers, and full choreography. The only time you missed the JumboTron was when Ciara was dropping it low (which, to no one's surprise, happened fairly frequently) -- otherwise, the stage felt like a good fit.
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Work she did -- moonwalking across the stage to "Billie Jean," pulling out all the stops for an on-stage lapdance (she literally pulled the guy's glasses off and wore them, like some teen movie nerd's fantasy), even leading her band in a few James Brown-style hits. Her cover and mashup choices might have looked corny on another singer, but how is it possible to resist Ciara swinging her imaginary lasso to a combination of "Ride" and Ginuwine's "Pony"?
Her stage presence is humble and sweet, every sultry stare eventually crumbling into a smile. She sang back-up to her back-ups as they showed off their vocal prowess and stepped aside while her dancers improvised, all with the kind of genuine encouragement that only a mom could give (her speech about her "little juicy man" -- Baby Future -- was undoubtedly the evening's emotional peak). "Go on baby, show 'em what you got," C eventually said to every single person on stage.
At least onstage, Ciara has little to prove. A couple more studio turns with Mike WiLL and a full embrace of her female Barry White potential? She might just have a shot at the crown.
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Queen of performing! She should extend her tour after this first run and just keep touring for the next couple of years...
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