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Thursday, May 16, 2013
Music / Live Reviews Live review: Ne-Yo, Label (5/15/13)
Posted By Kimberly Lawson on Thu, May 16, 2013 at 9:10 PM
Ne-Yo
Label
May 15, 2013
- Kennieth Holmes
I hate to start off a review so crass, but I must share the one thing that kept going through my head last night at R&B singer Ne-Yo's "intimate" concert at Label (courtesy of Amped 4-A-Cure, Inc & Malibu Red): I hope every man who was forced to attend for his lady was pleasantly rewarded later. If you know what I mean.
And of course you do, if you're reading this review (and have seen the video for "Lazy Love" from Ne-Yo's latest album R.E.D.). After all, a concert featuring Ne-Yo is not going to be a show for the fellas. I'm not a math person, but if I had to guess, I'd say the ratio of women to men in the audience last night was 13 to one.
And I was one of those weak-kneed ladies.
- Kennieth Holmes
- Me (holding the iPhone up) and Ne-yo
I've been a fan of Ne-Yo's sultry songs since 2006, when his debut album In My Own Words came out. After a breakup, I belted out "So Sick" at the top of my lungs in the car like it was nobody's business.
Last night, I found kindred spirits all around me. Ne-Yo took his audience down memory lane, performing hit songs like "So Sick," "One in a Million" and "Miss Independent." Some he merely sampled, teasing the crowd with the hooks and choruses we all know the words to. Other songs, he sang as passionately as if he were working to boost album sales for R.E.D. Even though the event was a free concert (organizers asked for donations at the door), Ne-Yo brought the goods - right down to stripping off his bright red suit jacket, T-shirt and finally tank top, revealing ... well, not exactly rippling muscles ... but a sexy view of his torso nonetheless.
Ne-Yo knows what his audience is looking for. He may not be Usher (and if you read my review when HE was in town in 2011, you know I lust after that man), but Ne-Yo somehow manages to seduce every woman within earshot.
- Kennieth Holmes
- The real reason why many female attendees were there
One woman, bless her patient boyfriend's heart, was so excited about seeing Ne-Yo that she shoved her way near the front of the stage and had her guy take a photo of her reaching out desperately for Ne-Yo's sweat towel.
That's a fan right there.
P.S.: Here's the footage from my iPhone that our photographer caught me filming.
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