Loud is the perfect name for Rihanna’s summer tour, which kicked off last Saturday with a sold-out gig at Baltimore’s First Mariner Arena.
Beyond just the volume of the show – which was considerable – the theme prevailed through the set, built around a giant speaker cabinet; the costumes (mostly neon and shiny); and the entire production itself: a gloriously over-the-top spectacle perfectly befitting the singer, who seems to producechart-toppers by the dozen.
The show began with a blitzkrieg of video, as four hanging, shifting circular video screens joined four giant stationary ones in projecting Rihanna’s arrival. She wore an electric blue mini-trenchcoat and hot pink stilleto boots with neon green heels and immediately belted out her No. 1 hit Only Girl (In The World) from her 2010 album, also titled Loud.
Before the audience could catch its breath, the singer had tossed the trench, revealing a day-glo bikini, picked up a gang of matching day-glo-covered back-up dancers and shifted directly into Disturbia, another No.1 hit, this one from 2007’s Good Girl Gone Bad – and then seamlessly segued into another hit, 2007’s Shut Up And Drive, replete with back-up dancers dressed as crash-test dummies bashing a neon-graffiti-covered car with bats.
Over nearly two hours – a very long set for such a busy production – Rihanna maintained a relentless pace, working her way through 24 songs, six different wardrobes and endless set changes, all without any significant energy dip.
The deft production included several built-in musical and video interludes – including a staggering number of guitar solos – to keep from going dark during the changes. (Internet)