Monday 25 June 2012

Watch Rihanna @ BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend Festival



Say what you like about Rihanna, but she always sings live and she always gives a hundred and ten percent during her performances. It's an attitude a lot of people could learn from. Case in point her extensive, closing, set at Radio 1's Hackney Weekend Festival.

Compared to some other artists that had shared the stage throughout the weekend, Rihanna actually looked like she put in some hard work to produce something that would excite the crowd. The props and the theme didn't really make any sense- other than to excite/agitate the Illuminati conspiracists out there- but they added to the theatre of the performance suitably. More impressive to me than the set decoration was the changing up of song arrangements, the new routines, and the continued improvement Rihanna has made with her stage presence.

Yep, the voice isn't perfect, but that isn't the only requisite for someone to put on a great show, as Leona Lewis demonstrated during her opening set [see here].

Set list:
Only Girl In The World
Disturbia
S and M
Cockiness
Birthday Cake
What's My Name?
Rude Boy
Love The Way You Lie
Man Down
Where Have You Been?
Wait Your Turn
Hard
Don't Stop The Music
Run This Town (with Jay-Z)
Talk That Talk (with Jay-Z)
Umbrella (with Jay-Z)
We Found Love


Only Girl In The World:

Disturbia:

S and M:

Cockiness:

Birthday Cake:


What's My Name:

Rudeboy:

Love The Way You Lie:

Where Have You Been:


We Found Love:

Run This Town, Talk That Talk, Umbrella:

More videos will be added as they surface!

8 comments:

  1. Rihanna has a pretty damn good voice if you ask me. Just needs to iron out the kinks, that's all. Listen to some of the notes she hits towards the end of the Love the Way You Lie performance, that shiz was brilliant.

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  2. Kudos to Rihanna, She is definitely one of the only pop artists that you can actually hear album after album that her voice becomes better and better. She must have a vocal coach. Her ability to switch between her registers is something that she hasn't always been able to do, her belt is so much more powerful now and her range has greatly improved. I think this one of the 1st times I was actually impressed with her live vocals. Rihanna will always have her unique tone and timbre much like Britney her voice is instantly recognizable but I like the fact she hasn't relied on this has continued to grow. I would like to hear her sing her song Complicated live just to see can she match the studio version in anyway.

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  3. Well I think everyone knows how I feel about RiRi but I will be honest and say I think she has never sounded better here.


    Sure her usual pitchy (Sometimes weird) performances annoy me but as you say at least she brings live vocals to the table for the majority of her gigs! She seems to be getting better.


    She does have an interesting voice but sometimes its ugly and not controlled well but she is getting there! At least she wasn't flashing her bum or boobs too, what do you think about that whole situation (Madonna for those that don't already know - eugh come on woman your not a kick in the ass off 60) lol

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  4. Agreed! I keep watching her live performances hoping to be wowed one day (just like Katy Perry) but so far eh. I prefer to listen to Rihanna on the album and even then...

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  5. Her vocals are alright here - but i was waiting for Love the way you lie part two because shes good at singing that but this one wasnt as good as the other ones i have seen - but shes getting better at performing
    atleast shes singing live - something we can all appreciate
    again shes not the strongest vocalist but shes doing the best she can

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  6. Totally, its amazing what those producers can do in a studio for ones voice!

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  7. HAHAHA! What a crock.
    Rihanna is not hard working. What has she done for her career? How has she truly improved? She sounds terribly nasal, and bored on her own records, like he doesn't give a damn as long as she has a top ten hit.

    My thanks goes to Lady Gaga for actually penning her own material, her lyrics and music compositions as much as she possibly can. She's one who is truly taking charge of her career, and not being dragged everywhere by her success like Rihanna does.

    A step further, she's even put herself out there physically, with her stance on the 'Dont Ask Don't Tell' situation with the U.S Government, and is always encouraging her fans to be who they want to be.

    I never see or hear Rihanna doing any such things, apart from getting a new try-hard gangster tattoo every two seconds... ugh, somebody needs to enroll her in a songwriting class or something.

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  8. I actually thought she looked as if she didn't want to be there and sounded really lazy.

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