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Janet Jackson at ACL Live
What’s most surprising about Janet Jackson in 2011 is not that she’ll be 45 in May, it’s that she’s not older.
She has been a cultural presence since the Reagan administration, carving out an niche for herself as the hard-dancing pop princess, a top-flight talent living perpetually in the shadow of a world-historical one. She released her first album at 12, had her first number one hit the year she turned 20 in 1986, and scored 34 more. She’s stared in movies and on television. She’s had wardrobe malfunctions and controversial magazine covers and secret marriages. That’s quite a career.
Jackson hasn’t had a hit in some time, so it’s a little hard to tell if this tour, “Number Ones: Up Close and Personal” is a victory lap or a career restart. The title certainly is on the nose — 90 minutes of number one hits in a series of the most intimate venues she’s played in years. It was almost the punchline to a joke about what older concert-goers want from a show: All hits, no opening act, comfy seats, home in time for Fallon.
A video intro showed Jackson, probably too young to drink, performing her hit “Control” which, Like virtually everything else this evening, it was greeted with screams from the (let’s not kid ourselves) older crowd (everyone was getting in touch with their inner 16 year old).
Jackson and a small group of dancers took the stage in matching black jeans, boots and tank tops, backed by a seven-piece band all in white. Then hard-charging, precision pop music: The early hit “The Pleasure Principle” bled into a medley of “Control, “What Have You Done for Me Lately” and “Feedback.”
Jackson kept up with her dancers, their moves recalling a few decades of Jackson’s videos, but broke the show into hunks that allowed for breaks — she worked and sweated and (I think) sang, but this isn’t 1989.
The crowd-thrilling “Nasty” was followed by video clips from movies such as “Good Times,”Diff’rent Strokes” “Poetic Justice,” where she usually looked far less happy than she did on stage.
“Let’s Wait Awhile” was a huge sing-along, while the numbers with more extensive choreography got the medley treatment: “Doesn’t Really Matter,” “Escapade,” “Love Will Never Do (Without You)” were all folded together, while the hardest dancing (and perhaps loudest screaming) was saved for “If” and the “Scream”/”Rhythm Nation” mash-up. This was a show that said, and only said, “This is my music, my dancing, my career. Enjoy.”
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By KB
April 6, 2011 11:45 PM | Link to this
This was a fabulous show! She looked great, her dancers were precise and we old people have loved Janet since she was Penny on Good Times.
I would have gone to see her the next night!!!