FREESTYLE FEST REVIEW
I'd purchased tickets 3 months ago cos I was SO EXTREMELY EXCITED about seeing no less than 10 freestyle/1980s electro-pop acts in one night. I thought it was going to be an all-day festival tantamount to entering freestyle Nirvana (the prices of the tickets would make it seem so), but the show only lasted between 7:17 and 10:30 pm. How do I know these precise starting and stopping times? Because I jacked an itinerary from the merch booth. It reads as follows:
7:17 PRETTY POISON (7 minutes)
By the time I got out of the car in the parking lot and started walking to the amphitheater their 1987 hit, "Catch Me, I'm Falling" was playing, but by the time I actually reached the inside of the venue it was over, and they were gone. THEY ONLY PLAYED THAT ONE SONG.
Pretty Poison's Jade Starling
7:26 TIMMY T (10 minutes)
September 22 just happened to be Timmy T's birthday, but that didn't stop him from only being able to play THREE SONGS, including his tearjerking ballad, "One More Try". I was at a booth waiting in line to buy a snack + drink, so by the time I made it to the actual stage area he was on his 2nd song (and thus halfway through his entire set). Timmy T performed karaoke style, singing along to CD tracks.
7:38 NOCERA (8 minutes)
I loved hearing the hit, "Summertime Summertime", but I wish she'd been up there longer!! She sang all of TWO SONGS, karaoke style like Timmy T.
7:48 PLANET PATROL (15 minutes)
I love these guys! Was pleased as punch to hear "Cheap Thrills" and "Play at Your Own Risk" live, but they needed to be onstage for more than 15 minutes! I hated that by the time I started getting really into it their set was OVER.
8:05 JOHNNY O (20 minutes)
I liked that he was doing all the same exact dances from 1989, but the guys standing around me were laughing for the same reason. I guess in retrospect those dances were cheesy. He was all by himself on stage, singing a long remix of "Fantasy Girl" and 2 other songs karaoke style.
8:27 FREESTYLE (16 minutes)
These guys were bar none my favorite musical performance of the night because they did NOT resort to karaoke-style background tracks to sing along to. I started screaming my lungs out before they even played a single note, cos watching their 2 keyboardists walking onstage with their *actual musical gear* was enough to send me into a frenzy. THIS is what the fuck I was expecting from a live Freestyle concert. I lost my mind to the strains of "It's Automatic". Actually seeing one of them use the microphone connected to his keyboard to make the computer voice sound was the raddest shit I'd ever seen in my life. Hearing only 16 minutes of this awesomeness was a fucking insult to them and to me.
(no picture available, but they were 3 Black guys, and they ruled)
8:45 AFRIKA BAMBAATAA AND THE SOUL SONIC FORCE (23 minutes)
I thought this group's legendary status would assure them the headlining spot (and a set lasting longer than a handful of minutes), but I was dead wrong. The Zulu Nation backup dancers were decidedly different from the originals, as was most of the Soul Sonic Force. The DJ was some young dude dressed in Afrika's b-boy look of the '80s with the shiny sunglasses, etc, and Bambaataa himself was decked out in a sequin-trimmed Egyptian toga thing. The rest of the Force was wearing sequin-trimmed Druid robe things. "Perfect Beat" and "Planet Rock" were out of this world, but again by the time I was getting into it it was over. : (
9:08-9:23 INTERMISSION
Local DJ Hurricane Andrew spun freestyle records by the only other artists who weren't appearing that night: Stevie B, Expose, Company B, and Nice n' Wild.
9:23 DEBBIE DEB (15 minutes)
Karaoke style singing yet again, but this time Debbie Deb brought out a team of female backup singers to stand way in the back and look like a big entourage, or something. Debbie Deb herself looked lke a big, chubby soccer mom, but her voice was on fucking point. "Lookout Weekend" and "When I Hear Music" were especially poignant this night.
9:40 TRINERE (17 minutes)
In sharp contrast to Debbie Deb's frumpy look, Trinere came out looking ALL FIERCE and POP STAR. Karaoke-style singing again, but she tore it up during "They're Playing Our Song". You go, girl.
10:00 LISA LISA (30 minutes)
The show should have been advertising her as "Lisa Lisa and/or Cult Jam?", cos there was no Cult Jam in sight. That made me mad. Still, she headlined the show for an entire half hour surrounded by male dancers who looked really gay. I wonder what percentage of Lisa Lisa's tour budget is alloted for packets of Hanes white underwear tank tops, cos the dudes kept tearing them off every 5 minutes. The first time it was campy/funny, but after the 4rth or 5th time it got ridiculous. She sang "All Cried Out" while one of the dancer guys did an interpretive dance with her. Ugh. There was a house remix medley of "Lost in Emotion" and "Head to Toe", which I hated. I wanted to hear freestyle, not house. Lisa Lisa waass 6 months pregnant and wearing a HUGE black muu-muu designed by Oscar de la Tenta. Not totally awesome.
The crowd was 50% Mexican/Latino (freestyle is a primarily Latino phenomenon) and 50% Filipino. I saw literally 3 White people and 2 Black people. It was interesting to look around and see nothin but Brown folk, but I thought there would be a lot more Black people in the audience cos of the artists playing. I also thought I would see a lot more people dressed like the 1980s, but it was a diverse (in a brown way) crowd.
Final Verdict: would have been better if the tickets were for free
7:17 PRETTY POISON (7 minutes)
By the time I got out of the car in the parking lot and started walking to the amphitheater their 1987 hit, "Catch Me, I'm Falling" was playing, but by the time I actually reached the inside of the venue it was over, and they were gone. THEY ONLY PLAYED THAT ONE SONG.
Pretty Poison's Jade Starling
7:26 TIMMY T (10 minutes)
September 22 just happened to be Timmy T's birthday, but that didn't stop him from only being able to play THREE SONGS, including his tearjerking ballad, "One More Try". I was at a booth waiting in line to buy a snack + drink, so by the time I made it to the actual stage area he was on his 2nd song (and thus halfway through his entire set). Timmy T performed karaoke style, singing along to CD tracks.
7:38 NOCERA (8 minutes)
I loved hearing the hit, "Summertime Summertime", but I wish she'd been up there longer!! She sang all of TWO SONGS, karaoke style like Timmy T.
7:48 PLANET PATROL (15 minutes)
I love these guys! Was pleased as punch to hear "Cheap Thrills" and "Play at Your Own Risk" live, but they needed to be onstage for more than 15 minutes! I hated that by the time I started getting really into it their set was OVER.
8:05 JOHNNY O (20 minutes)
I liked that he was doing all the same exact dances from 1989, but the guys standing around me were laughing for the same reason. I guess in retrospect those dances were cheesy. He was all by himself on stage, singing a long remix of "Fantasy Girl" and 2 other songs karaoke style.
8:27 FREESTYLE (16 minutes)
These guys were bar none my favorite musical performance of the night because they did NOT resort to karaoke-style background tracks to sing along to. I started screaming my lungs out before they even played a single note, cos watching their 2 keyboardists walking onstage with their *actual musical gear* was enough to send me into a frenzy. THIS is what the fuck I was expecting from a live Freestyle concert. I lost my mind to the strains of "It's Automatic". Actually seeing one of them use the microphone connected to his keyboard to make the computer voice sound was the raddest shit I'd ever seen in my life. Hearing only 16 minutes of this awesomeness was a fucking insult to them and to me.
(no picture available, but they were 3 Black guys, and they ruled)
8:45 AFRIKA BAMBAATAA AND THE SOUL SONIC FORCE (23 minutes)
I thought this group's legendary status would assure them the headlining spot (and a set lasting longer than a handful of minutes), but I was dead wrong. The Zulu Nation backup dancers were decidedly different from the originals, as was most of the Soul Sonic Force. The DJ was some young dude dressed in Afrika's b-boy look of the '80s with the shiny sunglasses, etc, and Bambaataa himself was decked out in a sequin-trimmed Egyptian toga thing. The rest of the Force was wearing sequin-trimmed Druid robe things. "Perfect Beat" and "Planet Rock" were out of this world, but again by the time I was getting into it it was over. : (
9:08-9:23 INTERMISSION
Local DJ Hurricane Andrew spun freestyle records by the only other artists who weren't appearing that night: Stevie B, Expose, Company B, and Nice n' Wild.
9:23 DEBBIE DEB (15 minutes)
Karaoke style singing yet again, but this time Debbie Deb brought out a team of female backup singers to stand way in the back and look like a big entourage, or something. Debbie Deb herself looked lke a big, chubby soccer mom, but her voice was on fucking point. "Lookout Weekend" and "When I Hear Music" were especially poignant this night.
9:40 TRINERE (17 minutes)
In sharp contrast to Debbie Deb's frumpy look, Trinere came out looking ALL FIERCE and POP STAR. Karaoke-style singing again, but she tore it up during "They're Playing Our Song". You go, girl.
10:00 LISA LISA (30 minutes)
The show should have been advertising her as "Lisa Lisa and/or Cult Jam?", cos there was no Cult Jam in sight. That made me mad. Still, she headlined the show for an entire half hour surrounded by male dancers who looked really gay. I wonder what percentage of Lisa Lisa's tour budget is alloted for packets of Hanes white underwear tank tops, cos the dudes kept tearing them off every 5 minutes. The first time it was campy/funny, but after the 4rth or 5th time it got ridiculous. She sang "All Cried Out" while one of the dancer guys did an interpretive dance with her. Ugh. There was a house remix medley of "Lost in Emotion" and "Head to Toe", which I hated. I wanted to hear freestyle, not house. Lisa Lisa waass 6 months pregnant and wearing a HUGE black muu-muu designed by Oscar de la Tenta. Not totally awesome.
The crowd was 50% Mexican/Latino (freestyle is a primarily Latino phenomenon) and 50% Filipino. I saw literally 3 White people and 2 Black people. It was interesting to look around and see nothin but Brown folk, but I thought there would be a lot more Black people in the audience cos of the artists playing. I also thought I would see a lot more people dressed like the 1980s, but it was a diverse (in a brown way) crowd.
Final Verdict: would have been better if the tickets were for free