R.Kelly rolled his 'Double Up' tour into the brand spankin new Prudential Center located in the newly upholstered Newark, NJ, Thanksgiving night. While the show was quite entertaining, I cannot count the times that I threw my head back in either disbelief or melodic excitement. As my mind struggled thru the 'Aaron Hall Career Jacker's' performance, I was torn between the fact that I was witnessing a highly sexually charged performance, by someone who I believe is both a tortured soul and a musical genious.
R. Kelly has so many hits that much of his show consisted of 1 1/2 minute shorts of some of the most popular singles of the last decade and a half including: 'Ignition', 'Honey Love' & 'Step' of course. The intrusive licking gestures, lap dance, and utter vulgarity, sprinkled thruout the concert reminded me of why songs like 'Age Ain't Nothin But A Number' and 'Seems Like You're Ready' will never be the same...
Ultimately I walked away from the concert having enjoyed it and coming firm to my belief, that this guy just doesn't get it. Some people believe they can do what ever they want because of who the are. We(the public) are the power that create such madness and continues to feed its pain.
I must say that I felt a bit guilty having gone to the show specifically to witness the surrounding drama first hand, and also to see one of the innovators of modern music in his purest form.
Selling over 50 million albums can influence many, many things. At least I didn't pay for my ticket!
SDM
