The hype for RNB Fridays Live return was unreal and it’s clear why. Graced by a killer queensland summer day, people of all ages made their way into the arena at Brisbane Showgrounds. With a stacked lineup featuring some of the best RNB acts the world has to offer the day was set to be a stunner. A definite big hats off to B105 for a well organised and well thought out day where the good times were pumping as soon as you made it through the gate.
KERI HILSON
Without a doubt Keri Hilson is famous within the RNB world. She features on many big time tracks such as Way I Are with Timbaland and her most famous collab track Knocks You Down featuring Kayne West and Neyo. Keri Hilson gave the crowd throwback 2000 vibes with incredible stage presence and crowd interactions. It was mesmerising being apart of the crowd and who doesn’t want to jam out to Pretty Girl Rock on a hot summer day.
BRANDY
Brandy took it right back to the 90s and with style and ease. The 40 year old performer reminded the crowd why she was the ‘it girl’ for RNB back in the day when she dropped hits like Baby and Full Moon. Dressed like a festival goddess, Brandy rocked the stage and the crowd were loving every minute of it. The highlight track of her set was The Boy Is Mine. Everybody in the whole Showgrounds knew the words and if they weren’t singing along they were grooving to the beat. I think the best thing about Brandy was her style and personality. You could tell she loved performing and that she was feeling herself and her music and it rubbed off on the overall vibe of the crowd.
JASON DERULO
Who doesn’t love Jason Derulo. He has so many incredible feel good dance track’s and although he was the youngest on the rnb lineup he held his own with rock hard abs and killer dance moves. Jason Derulo played all his classic tracks such as Swalla, Ridin Solo and Trumpets and the crowd were loving it. One of the best parts of Derulo’s set was his incredible dance moves. Just like in his music videos he didnt skip a beat and the whole crowd vibed along with him. With a voice that carried around the arena and a set filled with great tracks it was definitely my stand out performance for the day and I didn’t want it to end.
50 CENT
50 Cent was an artist I was really looking forward to seeing but I was actually a little let down with his performance. I felt like his sound didn’t carry as well as I’d hoped like there was an element of flow and cohesiveness missing. This of course didn’t take away from seeing singles such as Candy Shop performed live and despite how I felt the crowds response was still positive. 15-20 years on 50 Cent’s tracks such as In Da Club and How We Do still have universal appeal to this day with fans of all ages rocking their hearts out.
BLACK EYED PEAS
The Black Eyed Peas were incredible. Having performed together for more than 20 years it was evident their live show was as tight nit and high quality as it gets. The Black Eyed Peas are well known for being party starters and the crowd went absolutely wild for it. Their high energy set consisted of every radio play smash hit they have ever released such as Where Is The Love, I Got A Feeling and Dont Stop The Party. Even though I was missing that bag girl Fergie sass, The Voice Philippines winner Jessica Reynoso brought her own flavour to the Black Eyed Peas set. Throwing it back with bangers such as Let’s Get It Started it was impossible not to dance along and reminess about being 14 and and every Black Eyed Peas song was a party starter.
JANET JACKSON
With mixed rumours already floating around about Jackson’s set I was a little skeptical as to how it would all go down. I personally am not a massive fan but there’s an element of respect there for a 53 year old woman still rocking the stage to this day. Enthusiastic fans had been standing in the hot sun all day awaiting the legend to take to the stage and they were greated by a high energy performance. Janet made her way from one side of the stage to the other dancing and grooving and giving it her all. Playing tracks such as Nasty and Together Again Janet flew through song after song so she could try and fit it all in. She even played her single Scream that featured late brother Michael Jackson. All in all despite the negativity, Janet put 100% into her headlining performance and her adoring fans loved it.
RNB Fridays Live was a well thought out and planned event. Lines were minimal, security were helpful and friendly and every act gave everything they had to their performance. The set flow was smooth and uninterupted with little to no waits between acts and the stage production and sound overall was amazing. 2019 will definitely not be my last RNB Fridays.
