Ariana Grande bans the media from her tour after lackluster reviews.
It was the concert Ariana Grande didn't want you to see.
Sunday night, the 21-year-old former Nickelodeon star drew a near-capacity crowd to St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center for the third stop on her first headlining arena tour. This is typically the time in a pop star's career when media exposure is crucial, yet Grande's management has banned press photographers and review tickets for her current outing.
What are they hiding? It wasn't immediately apparent Sunday night, at least during Rixton's opening set. The British boy band is still new enough that their debut album comes out this week. Still, the youthful crowd of about 12,000 screamed at their every move. The lead singer does enjoy wearing dumb hats, but the other guys actually play their instruments. So, good luck to Rixton.
Grande took the stage after 9 p.m. in the first of several memorable entrances. She later returned atop a flying cloud, hanging from a massive chandelier and seductively draped across a piano. An impressively athletic and possibly Broadway-trained pack of a dozen dancers accompanied her, as did a full band and a somewhat superfluous string section that was barely audible through much of the show. Her stage offered plenty of trap doors and moving parts, as well as fog, confetti, lasers and pyro.
The term "pint-sized" often is used to describe Grande, who appears to be an American Girl doll brought to life by the power of wishes. The problem is, Grande tended to get swallowed up in all the dancers, fog, confetti, lasers and pyro.
She allowed her backup vocalists to carry many of the numbers and added her own squeals and shouts over the top. But she also was competing with a series of prerecorded bits from guest rappers and her noisy, boisterous band. At times, it worked. Grande opened with the Grammy-nominated hit "Bang Bang" and seemed quite happy to be singing it without the song's other artists, Jessie J and Nicki Minaj, stealing her focus. Later, she indulged in a few goofy, glitzy numbers clearly inspired by "The Great Gatsby." That's where the chandelier came into play.
The highlight of the concert was one of the weirdest. Grande donned a pair of high-tech gloves developed by British singer/songwriter Imogen Heap, who explained them via video. They're like a guitar effects pedal, laptop and theremin all in one and allowed Grande to digitally alter her voice in an alluring, haunting manner. After showing off the capabilities, she transitioned into "Why Try," dazzling the crowd in the process. Speaking of the crowd, they saved some shrieks for Grande, but a certain listlessness set in after the first few songs. By the time Grande wrapped with an encore of "Problem," most of the audience seemed eager to call it a night.Jacked from Twin Cities
3 comments:
this prepubescent bitch is annoying as hell
Ariana Grande, another manufactured singer who can't sing! If it wasn't for autotunes and pro-tools, this chick would be stripping at the nearest strip club!
Who is she again?
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