Review: Rihanna, LG Arena, Birmingham
She'd kept everyone waiting. Before Rihanna began her performance at the LG Arena last night, fans had taken to finding their own entertainment.
The dancing skills of an audience member dressed in blue – fair play to you whoever you were – and a series of Mexican waves had kept everyone occupied until the headline singer began her act at 9.30pm.
But it says something for Rihanna's talent and popularity that she was met by banshee-like screams of excitement rather than boos of frustration when she did eventually emerge.
Fans kept their fingers poised on their camera shutter, as Rihanna was revealed kneeling on the stage in a black cloak. Unsurprisingly, it didn't stay on for a long.
Within moments it had been thrown to the floor to reveal hotpants more typical of her preferred attire. "Birmingham what's up?" asked the singer, who was flaunting blonde curly hair.
"Do you all remember me being here before? I remember being here but I can't remember you being this crazy. What happened?'"
Actually there was some colourful language thrown in too but you get the gist.
This was an electric gig.
Fans on their feet from the beginning, dancing in the aisles and bucket loads of sex appeal.
A few costume changes stunted the momentum slightly, but with a running order that included Rude Boy, Umbrella and Love the Way you Lie, fans were quickly back on their feet.
The highlight? We Found Love got one of the biggest cheers of excitement but it was S&M and Please Don't Stop the Music that optimised everything Rihanna is about.
Throw in special effects including blasts of fire, lasers and moving images courtesy of digital screen and all the ingredients were there.
There was one bit of controversy. At one point she was walking next to the crowd when a fan appeared to try and grab her. She pushed him back with her microphone and the show was back on track, ended the gig in style with Diamonds.
