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Tag: Music

  • Juicy J brings his ‘Never Sober Tour’ to Firestone Live

    Juicy J brings his ‘Never Sober Tour’ to Firestone Live

    When Juicy J is in town, you can expect to witness a side of your best friend that you may have never thought existed.

    Juicy J performs at the ‘Never Sober Tour’ at the Firestone Live in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 21, 2014. (Ty Wright / Valencia Voice)

    If one was to drive past Firestone Live, Saturday night around 6:30 p.m. and took a long look at the crowd waiting outside the venue, it would have been hard to guess that all those kids were waiting to see an artist responsible for creating 90’s rap group Three 6 Mafia — as the “X’s” on their hand proved they were not even born when he started his career in the business.

    Twerking, bottle popping and clouds of kush smoke are always on the schedule for a Juicy J concert, and the Orlando stop of the “Never Sober Tour” was no different.

    Restless fans of all ages, races, social statues and backgrounds got extra lit as the trippy rapper — out of Memphis, Tenn. — took the stage at Firestone Live (three hours and fifteen-minutes from when the first act took the stage). For those who managed to make it all the way to see the trippy king, and not get kicked out due to fighting or fainting, they were in for a treat.

    While Juicy J ran through a majority of his anthems, including “Bandz a Make Her Dance,” “Bounce It” and “Scholarship” — which got all the ladies dancing on the stripper pole off to the side of the stage — he did manage to slow it down and add a personal aspect into the show.

    During his acapella version of “A Zip And A Double Cup” the crowd was at it’s all-time high, rapping the lyrics in perfect harmony.

    Project Pat opens for Juicy J’s ‘Never Sober Tour’ at the Firestone Live in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 21, 2014. (Ty Wright / Valencia Voice)

    Before getting into some of my personal favorites Three 6 Mafia songs: “Slob On My Knob,” “Stay High,” and “Poppin My Collar,” Juicy J made it known that “In order to f*** with me, you have to know where I come from.”

    On top of the many local acts, Project Pat and Travi$ Scott acted as supporting acts. Project Pat got the main card going, with possibly the longest set of the night. While it was uncertain if many of the people in the front row even knew who he was, it did not stop them from dancing — especially the two girls who hopped the gate separating the stage from the floor to dance along side him.

    Scott, who is signed to both T.I.’s Grand Hustle label and Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music label, was nothing but a giant fireball full of energy. Watching Scott, aka La

    Flame, perform is a full-time job in itself. If one was to blink — for even a millisecond — they could have missed the

    Travi$ Scott opens for Juicy J’s ‘Never Sober Tour’ at the Firestone Live in Orlando, Fla. on Feb. 21, 2014. (Ty Wright / Valencia Voice)

    opportunity to see one of his entertaining, yet borderline, dangerous stunts. As Scott crowd surfaced, you could see his team holding their breath as it appeared he was close to being dropped and smacking his head on the Firestone Live floor.

    Whether he was performing more popular songs “Upper Echelon” and “Uptown” or singles like “Bad Mood,” it was evident that much of the crowd was there to see him as much as they were they were there to see Juicy J.

    Random thoughts: Did Juicy J toss his shoes into the crowd after his set because the venue told him he had to finish after 45-minutes, but still had more songs he wanted to perform but couldn’t so he felt bad for the crowd? Or was he just tired of those shoes and was waiting to give them away? Why were there so many “opening acts” when the artist already has two other artist on tour with him?

  • To Write Love On Her Arms Makes Orlando Heavy and Light Returns

    Jon Foreman did not let 30 stitches stop him from headlining the seventh annual “Heavy and Light” show presented by To Write Love On Her Arms Sunday night at the House of Blues.

    Foreman, who is the lead singer of Christian rock band Switchfoot, slashed his face during a morning surf last Monday in his hometown Encinitas, Calif. He fully recovered, however with more than 30 stitches — many of which are inside his upper lip — he was not able to sing for a couple of days and was forced to cancel Switchfoot’s album release party. This had the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms’ (TWLOHA) Jamie Tworkowski nervous that he would have to reschedule the yearly event.

    Prior to getting into the first song of his set “The Cure for Pain,” Foreman was given a care package by event attendee Allie Sinclar. The package contained a list of miscellaneous items as well as a small note to go along with it.

    Foreman took the stage backed by a cellist, Keith Tutten, and drummer, Aaron Redfield of Fiction Family and performed music from his solo projects as well as singles from his group projects including “Dare You To Move” which he performed with no microphone in unison with the crowd.  

    Grammy-nominated artist Mary Lambert opened up the musical acts with a combination of spoken word and song. Lambert mixed heavy songs with light commentary to keep the night at ease. The 24-year-old artist sang original pieces, including “She Keeps Me Warm,” which was the basis to Macklemore’s and Ryan Lewis “Same Love” chorus.

    When Lambert was not singing and playing the piano, she would reminisce on her past and the time she wrote her first spoken word piece about being a gay-Christian. She even managed to make her way back onto the stage to help Foreman perform “The World You Want.”

    Lambert was not the only artist on the bill to assist Foreman on stage following their set. Summer Set’s vocalist Brian Dales provided tunes for not one, but two songs during Foreman’s set. Dales and Foreman performed their own rendition of Lorde’s single “Royals,” and “This is Home” which appeared in a Disney film (I guess it’s only right to pay homage to the mouse when your in his home).

    The tour’s name hits the nail right on on the head. While musical sets by Tristan Prettyman and The Summer Set where what brought many out, it was their personal messages in between songs which kept people engaged.

    It was the stories from 20-year-old Kevin Breel, who discussed how the “hardest choice I ever made was staying alive” just hours after leading his high school basketball team to the State Championship in 2011. It was the spoken word pieces from poet Anis Mojgani, who showed listeners that everyone deserved to be loved.

    The event was live streamed for those who could not make it out to the show, and ended with a finale which contained all acts from the night singing “Lean on Me.”

  • Concert Review: Sensual, racy and emotional; The Weeknd seduces sold out Hard Rock

    Concert Review: Sensual, racy and emotional; The Weeknd seduces sold out Hard Rock

    ORLANDO — Sex, drugs and more sex — “Warning this show contains mature content,” guest are advised as they entered the Hard Rock Live, Friday night for the sold out “Kiss Land Fall Tour”.

    From the parking lot to the venue, everything belonged to Abel Tesfaye (who goes by The Weeknd). The music Gods provided a perfect setting for night — hipster chicks dressed in mom shorts, band tees and winter skully hats — natural herbal- substance aroma filled room, while a dark foggy overcast served as a welcoming background outside, mirroring the mood that would take place inside.

    Serving as the perfect composer, Tesfaye added to the ambiance providing free condoms at his merchandise table, along with a video display of two girls fornicating with each other on his stage backdrop.

    “How many of you have heard my new album ‘Kiss Land’?” asked the 23-year old singer out of Toronto Canada to the sold out crowd. “For those who didn’t I wanted you to experience the new songs like this, with the fans singing along and weed smoke being blown in the air.”

    Who is The Weeknd and how did he get so popular? How has a guy who has made it his duty to stay out of the tabloids become such a fan favorite, hosting his second consecutive sold out show in Orlando not even a year apart.

    The human nature of Prince with vocal abilities resembling a paranoid Michael Jackson, The Weeknd and his new age R&B style has taken over Generation Y.

    Performing almost every song of his new “Kiss Land” album, which debuted at No.2 on the Billboard 200 list — The Weeknd transited over the Japanese themes to his performance, quick infomercials of Japanese hotlines and hentai characters served as transition pieces as he moved from one song to another.

    About as mysterious as they come, Tesfaye opened up his set with “Adaptation” behind a sheer curtain, forcing fans to enjoy his singing skills and not dwell on his personal presence (much like how his career has been).

    While it was the “Kiss Land Fall Tour”, The Weeknd made sure to perform “the fucking classics.” Paying homage to his first piece of work, Tesfaye performed songs of off his mixtape “House of Balloons”: “The Zone,”  “The Morning,” “Wicked Games” and a few more. But he did not venture off into his other two projects “Echoes of Silence” and “Thursday” during his sensual 90-minute performance which fans sang along to every time.

    At one point during the show you could tell that Tesfaye was caught off guard that he had such a loyal following, as the crowd managed to overpower him being so loud.

    A good performance can truly increase an artist stock and take an individual song to the next level. During “Pretty” we got to see just how egotistic and heartbroken Tesfaye was. With all eyes on him, the video monitors switched from playing videos to a close up of Tesfaye performing live, where fans were able to see the agony this relationship has put on him.

    Beauty, Banks, opened the show and served as a perfect compliant to The Weeknd. If there were a girl on the other end responding to his lyrics it would be her. Afraid to let her talent show at times, the dark themed artist comes off as the cutie that didn’t realize she was hot until way late. Taking a break from performing songs off her latest EP “London,” Banks true talents were displayed during her cover of Lauryn Hill – “Ex Factor.”

  • Future Hendrix Performs Sold Out Show On Mother’s Day at Downtown Orlando Venue 578

    ORLANDO — With a work ethic like no other, rapper Nayvadius Wilburn out of Atlanta GA best known by his stage name, Future, has taken the music world by storm since releasing a series of successful mixtapes dating back to 2010 up until his debut album, Pluto, which was one of the best rap albums of 2012.

    Future who has one of the hottest yet controversial song in the streets “Karate Chop”, featuring Lil Wayne, has not let the negativity get to him as he focuses in on completing his second studio album, Future Hendrix, set to release sometime this year.

    Out Da Gate Entertainment looked to spice up Mother’s Day adding the Freeband Gang leader to their weekly “Super Smash Sundays” at Firestone Live.

    While I love my life and would not trade it for anything I’m sure it would be pretty cool to switch with Future for one night as he gets paid to drink expensive champagne and look cool while his DJ plays his music in the background (which I will explain later).  I don’t know about you but add that to getting to sleep next to R&B singer Ciara, the hottie who brought us hit singles “Ride” and “1, 2 Step” every night and waking up in a new Bugatti every morning sounds pretty sweet to me.

    “At My Baby’s Show. Being Goofy BackStage:) The Girlz are Screaming LOUD!:) Show Is #CertifiedTrill” tweeted Ciara late Sunday night as she supported her boyfriend Future rock the stage from behind the DJ booth.

    Before the rapper came out to perform his security took to the stage to clear everyone who was not apart of his crew no matter what ties they had to the promoters or venue.  The artist stormed the stage right from his tour bus and headed right back concluding his set.

    I am a huge fan of Future “the rapper” however Future “the performer” I’m not too sold on.  I believe if people pay to see you rap then you should actually rap and not just adlib the prerecorded vocals your dj is spinning the entire night while dancing around the stage.  However what do I know I’m just an avid music fan.

    While Future set was semi short and a little unimpressive a jam packed crowd appeared to be pretty “turnt up” in the club like atmosphere as he managed to fit in both new and old songs that he either provided a hooks or verse to rangin from songs like; “Tony Montana”, “Racks”, “Buggatti”, and “Love Me” during his set which was under a hour long.

    I have not lost all faith in Future who has brought me some of my favorite summer jams so I will brush this underneath the rug and forget it ever happened.  He is a smart guy who has seemed to know what it takes to shine on on the big stage so if he wants to continue his growth an improvement in live rapping is a must.