A few things to know about me...

1.    I love concerts. If I love you as a musical artist, I want to see you live. In my mind, concerts are an interactive experience. I love singing along with the artist because I’m part of the band. (Don’t question the crazy, people). Plus, being around thousands of other people who share the same enthusiasm is such a rush.

Wanna know how much I love concerts? I’m cheap and am always on the lookout for a better deal. But not when it comes to concert tickets. They cost what they cost and I’m good with that.

2.    My family loves music videos, so BET and Video Soul were constants in my household. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a shock that I grew up loving Michael and Janet Jackson.

My mom’s maiden name is Jackson, so we would always make jokes about how we were related to those Jacksons. I’ll never forget the time my cousin recorded Janet’s performance on an awards show on the VCR (lol) and memorized the choreography only to be devastated when my mom accidentally erased it. Oops.

These were major reasons I wanted to see Janet. Michael also played a role. When he died, I was happy to say that I’d seen him in concert. For no real reason that I can come up with it, I’d never seen Janet before, but I was determined to rectify that. Thanks to my amazing boss, I was able to secure tickets on the floor.

And I saw her Saturday night!

It was fantastic! The show wasn’t elaborate - just Janet, her backup dancer, singers and band. But that’s all we needed. The woman has had a TON of hits over her 25+ year career. One hit led to another to another to another. The whole audience (including me) sang and danced the entire time.  The rush of energy from the audience when the opening notes for a song like “Control” or “Rhythm Nation” were played was amazing.

And she’s still got it at 44. I would’ve collapsed on the stage after the first verse of the first song, but she kept going for almost two hours.

Funny moments: During a break, she showed clips from her acting gigs from Good Times to For Colored Girls. As soon as the Good Times clip came on, I started yelling, “Not the iron. Run, Penny.” I haven’t seen that episode in Lord only knows how long, but I still remember.

In a quest to make sure I remembered all the song lyrics, I looked up the words to several songs, including “If.” Now I know why she mumbles the verses of that song.  The second verse is all kinds of dirty. I called my BFF and was like, “They played that on the radio!”

The guy behind me kept yelling, “I love you, Janet” the entire time. He looked so crushed when she invited a girl sitting in the front row backstage after the concert.

Bonus: I actually managed to get a few decent photos. :)

So yeah, two thumbs up, five stars, three snaps in a circle and all that jazz for me.

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