Saturday, June 05, 2010

Concert Review: Jason Derulo & IYAZ at May Fair

Anybody who has been to my blog in previous months has noticed the massive amounts of Jason Derulo material I've posted. The reason for that has been two-fold. First and foremost, I like his music and I've liked it for a couple years back when he was Keepin' it On the Hush and waaay before Whatcha Say caused his career to rocket from up and coming artist to platinum artist...all in one year/album.

The second reason I've posted so much Jason Derulo is because one out of every two people that have come to my blog in the past year have been because they searched something about Jason Derulo. For example, I've never posted anything about Jason Derulo's shoes, but massive amounts of people have searched that on Google and ended up on my blog looking at pictures I've posted of him. Thank goodness for Google Analytics is all I can say. If used right, it's a great tool for anybody looking to know everything about who is coming to your blog. I've got love for all you guys out there tuning in, especially the new contingent of readers up in Duxbury, MA...I see y'all and appreciate the love.

The picture I'm trying to paint in my review below should reflect my giddiness that an artist I've been following closely for the past couple years decided to perform a few blocks away from me...oh yea and for $5. I probably would have forked over at least $30-$40 to see him up to an hour away from where I live, but no...instead he was all like "I got you GWDJ, I'll come next door and perform basically for free." Even better there was no assigned seating, so similar to the night before at Matisyahu, I had the ability to carve my way through the crowd to get great seats before he hit the stage. Seems too good to be true right? You're tellin' me...

Let me catch myself for a sec before I get too ahead and just skip to the review of Derulo. Prior to him hitting the stage as the headliner, I was (of course) there early enough to catch IYAZ's set. As he started, I was walking up, so I didn't get a chance to hustle myself into any premium seating unfortunately. What I heard though, was pretty much what I expected, but that's a good thing. Unbeknownst to me, IYAZ has another new single on the horizon titled So Big, produced by J J J JR. I didn't have a good view of the stage, but I got a clip of his new single thanks to my freakishly tall roomate Mike (I see you Butcher!). It ended up being a curveball because I hadn't heard it yet (surprisingly) and still can't find a non-DJ version of it in the past day I've now found it which is strange IYAZ - So Big. Strange because wikipedia says his album is due out in a week and it hasn't now leaked yet. That is was an accomplishment if true.

All in all, I'd say the comparisons to Sean Kingston-like style and potentail are fair at this point since his debut album is going to end up having three huge singles Solo, Replay and So Big. In the limited time I got to listen and see him in concert I'd say IYAZ was a little more engaging than Kingston as a performer actually. For a warm up act, it was legit, daps & lbs to you Keidran Jones.

After a pretty decent set by a band I hadn't heard much from Sandlot Heroes, I made a quick visit to the exceptional restroom facilities and a little stop here, giving myself just enough time to find a chair to stand on to get a clutch view of the stage. Sidebar: Word to the wise, if the opportunity presents itself to elevate above the crowd for a better view, station yourself next to a pole...the likelihood of being in everyone's way despite being elevated is lessened, pictures/videos are generally higher quality/less shaky, and you never know when you're going to get bumped by drunk people at a concert, especially on a flimsy chair ...so being by a pole mitigates those risks/obstacles quite well.

Those May Fair folks steadfastly stuck to their schedule because the set change was quick, maybe 15-20 mins. You know I was posted up though and got a good view of the Michael Jackson-esque Thriller-style, coming out of the fog dance entrance. Check out his Concert Entrance into his song Sky is the Limit...

My first reaction was holy-ish, how many teenie boppers made it out tonight!...i.e. hadn't heard the high pitched boy band style screaming in an audience for a while. Guess Jason Derulo is the farthest boundary of my musical tastes bordering Pop music now?....siiiikkee @JustinBieber.
Aside from the extraordinarily high amount of teens in attendance, I was still able to enjoy his performance, which was impressive because of Derulo's stage presence. Sure a lot of Pop/R&B artists try to pull off the dancing on stage, but he owned it to a point where you can tell he takes pride in his choreography. From the occasional spins, to the above average back-up dancers (I agree Jess, he does have one of the best groups of dancers), to the crotch grabs, to the lit-up black gloves...he owns the entertainer label. One of the better examples of him being an entertainer was when he performed Whatcha Say below....

smh on the Hulk Hogan style beater rip off at the 2:48 mark...haha. I get it though, the lil girlies love dem abs and word ta ya moms I'd probly do that walkin' down the street on occasion if I had Chris Macke style wash-board abs. I see you Diesel!

As the concert progressed, he kept playing personal favorites like What If and his new single Ridin' Solo. Ironic and probably planned that he chooses to play Ridin' Solo by himself, but it was a mellow rendition of the song and consequently may have been the song I was least a fan of him performing.

As the concert wound down I gained a heightened sense of appreciation for the true performance I was witnessing for having only paid $5. Made me feel like it was a little bit of karma coming back to frequent concert-goers like me who gets raped every time they have to buy tickets off Tickmaster. Arts Fairs like May Fair so rarely are able to attract high profile acts that it felt like I was watching an endangered animal that I should have had to pay more to see, but was fortunate enough to watch basically for free.
That was none more clear than on his closing song, my personal favorite and hands down the best performance of a song he did all night. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, fast forward to his move at the 2:40 mark where he rocks the splits into a mic flip while smoothly transitioning out of the move by walking forward in sync with the other dancers. Was pretty sick and a very real indication of how he has become a polished entertainer...a step up from your garden variety Pop star.

If I were to give the event a grade, I would emphatically give May Fair an A. How they got Matisyahu, IYAZ, Charice, and Jason Derulo to play under a tent in park in Allentown, PA jengas my mind. It cost $5 to buy 4 apples at the grocery store and to go all economic on you for a min, I got way more utility out of watching Matisyahu and Jason Derulo for $5 than I would have gotten out of eating 4 apples. That sort of captain obvious comparison I managed to geniously come up with was meant to shed light on how rare and somewhat old school the event was that I attended. It's going to be a tall order being able to get that much entertainment out of $5 in my life going forward. Serious daps & lbs are in order for all that organized the event (mainly B104), I feel like I owe y'all some sort of thank you note. Even if you aren't as fortunate to attend a festival with IYAZ/Derulo, I would still recommend paying upwards of $30-$40 to see them if you get the chance.

For more exclusive videos of the concert and other past concerts, check out my YouTube Channel or click on the YouTube icon at the bottom of this page on my Wibiya bar (in between Twitter and Become a Fan).

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