Soulja Boy, Chris Brown, Bow Wow blow up Coliseum

A sea of teenyboppers flooded the Richmond
Coliseum this past Tuesday night to see headliners
Bow Wow and Chris Brown in 2008’s Up
Close and Personal Tour.

The Shop Boyz opened the show with two
garbled songs that the crowd of nearly 5,000
barely understood. But the crowd started to feel
the Boyz when a man with a red fro-hawk and
patriotically colored guitar hit the stage to help
perform their hit, “Party Like a Rock Star.”

Soulja Boy was next on the program and
came on stage wearing oversized sweat pants,
a white T-shirt and signature white specs with
his name written across the lenses.

Soulja Boy borrowed Hurricane Chris’ “The
Hand Clap” and “A Bay Bay” before performing
his own, “Yahhh!”

“Where my Soulja girl at?” Soulja said,
receiving a shrill response from the crowd of
mostly females. He performed “Soulja Girl” and
kept the ladies entertained as he humped the
stage, sans shirt, to The Dream’s “Falsetto.”

It was pretty much a sure bet to see Soulja
hit the crowd with his record-breaking hit,
“Crank That (Soulja Boy).”

And “crank that,” he did. The track “You’llllll”
played as audience members of all ages cranked
their best Soulja Boy. It was amazing to see how
well most of the audience knew the dance. The
audience was left screaming for more.

This was Soulja Boy’s best performance of
the night, as all his other songs were heavily
laden with the screaming of A-Rabbit, his
hype man.

After Soulja Boy cranked the crowd up, a prop
Gulfstream G400 private jet containing Bow
Wow sunk down to the stage. The co-headliner
jumped out, literally with a bang, and performed
songs, including “Fresh Azimiz.”

“I’m single now. I ain’t with Ciara,” Bow Wow
said, changing the lyrics and publicly stating the
status of his and Ciara’s relationship – or lack
thereof. The titillated ladies screamed, wanting to
take advantage of his newfound single status.

With consistent energy, Bow Wow continued
his set with “Bow Wow (That’s My Name),” a
song he recorded at age 13.

He partied with the crowd on “Let’s Get Down,”
then showed a softer side as he tapped into some
of his love songs, including “Let Me Hold You”
and “Like You.”

The highlight of his entire performance
was when Bow Wow brought a little girl from
the audience on stage and danced with her to
“Outta My System.”

Bow Wow’s high-energy G-rated set was on
point. It was remarkable to witness how much
his showmanship has matured.

After Bow Wow thanked the parents and fans
for their support, a 60-second countdown in
laser lights was all that stood between the fans
and Chris Brown. The crowd eagerly counted
down as if it were New Year’s Eve.

After an animation showed Brown fighting
galactic haters, Brown descended onto the
stage to do a well-choreographed performance
of “Wall to Wall.”

The stage was fully equipped with stairs,
slides, poles, pyrotechnics, laser lights,
drummer, projections of Brown playing
various instruments and Dj Baby Dru on the
turntables.

Brown performed “Gimme That,” featuring
Lil’ Wayne via a life-sized projection, then paid
homage to the ’80s in an Adidas track suit and
shell-toed sneakers. A break- dance battle broke
out, pinning the girls against the guys.

Rumors of a potential romance between
Brown and Rihanna were only fueled when he
gave a heart-felt performance of his version of
her hit, “Umbrella,” which he called “Cinderella.”
He sang to a projection of Rihanna while
dancing with an umbrella in hand.

With the popularity of go-go music in
Virginia, Brown’s home state, he gave an
explosive performance of the go-go inspired
“Throwed.” This was a performance received
particularly well by the crowd as he danced in
the difficult go-go style.

The whole night, a large circle-shaped object
covered with a black tarp loomed in the back
of the floor-seating area. Brown removed the
tarp to reveal a round, rotating, platform that
tilted with his every dance move during his
performance of “Lottery.” Even as the wall tilted
to steep positions, he gripped it impressively
like Spider-Man and held every note.

On most songs, Brown allowed the voice-over
track to assist him with many of the notes, but
he intimately gave it his all when he hit every
note on “With You.”

Brown danced into the night and wrapped
up the show with a special appearance by
Bow Wow, performing their song, “Shortie
Like Mine.”

Chris Brown and Bow Wow really got up
close and personal, delivering what their fans
expected.