Rihanna or how I noticed I am officially old

Rihanna was in Vienna tonight and we were there to see her along with 13.998 other people. We, that’s my friend Michael and I, were waiting

and waiting

and waiting some more. Finally around 9:30pm the magic happened and Rihanna arrived on stage. And then the disappointment started.

The concert was announced to last 90 minutes. And 60 of these were just plain boring. It’s true that I don’t know her new album, but it’s also true that I love music. If the rhythm is good I’ll just dance or at least sway with the music.
None of this happened in the beginning. Maybe I am just old, but I thought the music was too loud (and I know what they say: If the music is too loud, you are too old), but I found the music was in overdrive, going over her voice. So she had to get louder and it was almost unbearable.

Also, and maybe that’s just me, I want a bit more from a concert than five costume changes. How about live singing? I really felt most of the songs in the beginning were coming from tape (otherwise how is it possible to dance, sign autographs and hear her singing without her holding her microphone? And no, she had no mouthpiece).

When at last she started with ‘Love the way you lie’, people moved with the music. And I did too.

Before the hall was quiet. And I don’t mean in a good way. The Stadthalle is not a huge hall, but it is a hall. So noise travels, gets louder, basically is just contained within the hall. Today I felt it was quiet. And yes, everybody freaked a bit at ‘Umbrella’, the only highlight of the first hour. After that, quiet again. You know the people on the ranks, they never got up. No standing ovations, no dancing, no anything.

I got the feeling she was just doing her job. You know what? When I go to a concert I want to see more. More passion and heart and feelings for whatever the singer/entertainer is doing on stage. And from Rihanne there was nothing for a long time. Just calling out ‘Vienna’ every 15 minutes was not doing the trick.

So at song number 19. she finally had us dancing and singing along. Still people in the bleachers didn’t get up. I loved the last six numbers which already included the two encores. No matter what, they were great. Also Rihanna sounded sincere when she talked before the encore that ‘tonight she loves us all’. The only moment during the concert where she felt real, like a person with emotions and not a robotic dance machine.

Am I glad I went? Yes, I am. Was it worth 80 Euros? No, not at all! Therefore a big thank you to my sponsor tonight!
Yours, Pollybert