Live Review: Sprite Liquid Mix tour with Jay-Z, 311 and others in Michigan
CLARKSTON, Mich. - The late R&B singer Aaliyah, who was killed in a plane crash last year, became the focus of rapper Jay-Z’s performance on Sunday (8/25) during the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour’s stop at the DTE Energy Music Theatre.
CLARKSTON, Mich. - The late R&B singer Aaliyah, who was killed in a plane crash last year, became the focus of rapper Jay-Z’s performance on Sunday (8/25) during the Sprite Liquid Mix Tour’s stop at the DTE Energy Music Theatre.
Without explanation, Jay-Z halted his hit “Hard Knock Life” shortly after 10 p.m. to ask the production staff to turn off the lights. He encouraged fans to spark their lighters as the Detroit native’s hit “Try Again” played softly over the speakers.
Jay-Z and the rest of his Roc-a-Fella family--including co-CEO Damon Dash, who reportedly was engaged to Aaliyah at the time of her death--turned their backs and walked to the rear of the stage for the 30-second memorial.
“We love you,” Jay-Z said as the lights went up. “We miss y’all.”
The solemn moment was a stark contrast to the rest of the daylong festival, which was filled with tension. Pavilion seating, generally assigned to ticket-holders, was dubbed general admission from the start of the show until 5:45 p.m. During opening sets from rappers Nappy Roots and rap-rockers N.E.R.D., fans jumped over rows of seats in waves to get closer to the stage. They stepped on the heads, backs and shoulders of fellow ticket-holders, including children, to slap hands with the bands, both of which encouraged fans to come closer.
At 5:45 p.m., the crowd was asked to leave the pavilion and sit in the assigned seats--a process that didn’t go smoothly.
A second stage, which housed bands such as Nonpoint, Blackalicous and Talib Kweli, was an awkward walk. Fans who had already gone through security were able to pass through a wooded walkway to enter the second-stage area. However, to return to the main stage area, ticket-holders were forced to pass again through the main gates.
From a strictly performance aspect, most of the show was top-notch. Nonpoint added gripping rock to the second stage, as Blackalicious provided backbeats for the extreme sports athletes and basketball players under the 80-degree sun.
N.E.R.D.--the Neptunes production team plus MC Shay (Sheldon Hailey)--fell flat with the main stage crowd, despite the eclectic nature of its music. Lead singer Pharrell Williams strolled across the stage offering samples of his band’s debut “In Search Of.” To hype up the fans, he encouraged them to dance in the aisles.
“There’s some room in the aisle here. Just don’t hurt anyone,” Williams said.
The second stage was sparsely attended; Nonpoint singer Elias Soriano said it was because tour promoters improperly pushed the bands performing there. Kweli, a strong performer with masterful rhyming skills, managed to bring in a fair number of spectators, but it wasn’t proportional to the hype he’s received.
Reggae-popsters 311 added a touch of positivity to the main stage. Singer-guitarist Nick Hexum and singer-rapper S.A. Martinez tailed each other around the stage and seamlessly traded lines in their co-headlining spot.
Hexum, wearing a Descendents T-shirt and black wrist bands, lead the crowd in a chant of “down for the diversity/down to the unity” before heading into the song “Unity.”
His set didn’t focus on the music fans came to see, however, instead focusing on material from his Roc-A-Fella family. By the end of his set, many in the crowd had already headed for the exits.
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