Woah! That’s one word to describe Janelle Monae’s concert last night.
The crowd was packed from left to right at the iHeart Radio Theater in Burbank, CA. Before Janelle took the stage, iHeartRadio On Air Host Renee Taylor, gave a marvelous introduction that included words like, we’ll be filming live tonight, to which the crowd screamed and shouted. Then all but 5 foot nothing Janelle Monae ran to the stage and the crowd went crazy. She started the show by performing a new song off the Rio 2 Soundtrack entitled “What Is Love”. The Rio 2 OST was released tonight and is available here.
Since it was Janelle Monae’s first time performing “What Is Love”, most of the crowd lightly grooved to the beat while die-hard fans sung along. After the song, Renee Taylor asked her a question, to which Janelle Monae took a long pause, walked around the stage, smiled and said “now I was just painting a picture for all of you who didn’t get that” in reference to her long pause. The crowd laughed along and eagerly anticipated the next song, which was her hit single with Erykah Badu entitled “Q.U.E.E.N”. Everyone danced and all the ‘Electric Ladies’ in the room yelled out lyrics from the song such as “Am I a freak for getting down?!”
She then took the crowd on a roller coaster ride performing “Electric Lady”, which she showcased some stellar dance moves, then bringing the crowd back to reality with “Cold War” stating “I believe we all deserve love, compassion, and respect. It’s a cold cold war and sometimes we gotta know what we’re fighting for.”
The climax of the show came when she changed into a black and white striped leather jacket. She raised her hands then lowered them, ordering the crowd to get low. Everyone obeyed and she busted out with a solo dance rendition. The whole crowd was on their knees trying their best not to get up and dance along. After her dance solo she grabbed the mic and ordered everyone to jump up! Then she went into the audience and did some more dances. Everyone snapped Instagram pictures and selfies. She took it a step further and ran outside the iHeartRadio Theater onto the streets where audience members formed a circle that Janelle Monae freestyled in. Then she hopped on her security’s back and headed back inside where she took a bow and ended the show. Audience members didn’t know what to say, but “Woah!”
The electric show was broadcast live on-air as a 30-minute special on Urban Adult Contemporary (AC), Urban Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR) and Rhythmic station sites, with a 60-minute live video stream presented by McDonalds online across station websites and iHeartRadio.com.
Check out some dope photos from the concert taken by Joseph Llanes for iHeartRadio and Getty Images for iHeartRadio.
-Hakeem Animashaun
