Rihanna kicked off her ANTI World Tour in Jacksonville, last night (March 12th), with a show filled with things you’re not likely to find anywhere else.
Like the giant shower curtain dripping 10-foot chunks of foam behind the stage. Or the flying bridge that carried the singer from one end of Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena to the other. How about the most acrobatic corps of dancers this side of the Disney Animal Cirque de Soleil?
Rihanna even took time from the stage to thank the guys running the spotlights from way above the crowd at the back of the arena. Instead of introducing the band members by name, Rihanna let rolls credits over the video screens after the last song.
She ran through half a dozen or so costumes, ranging from hooded robes to thigh-high boots to an oversized suit and kept pace with her dancers for much of the show. She opened the show in dramatic fashion. When the lights went down, the all-white stage was bare, with the band playing from below stage level. Rihanna appeared clear at the other end of the building, on a smaller stage that popped up over the sound board, dressed in an ankle-length hooded white robe and belting out “Stay.” By the time she made her way to the main stage, she’d shed the robe and was joined by four female dancers for “Birthday Cake.”
The hits kept rolling – “Bitch Better Have My Money,” “Consideration,” an abbreviated “Umbrella,” “Desperado,” “We Found Love,” “Where Have You Been.” She was 15 or 16 songs into her set before anyone even thought about sitting down, then she got people back on their feet with “Diamonds,” “Needed Me,” “Same Ol’ Mistakes” and “FourFiveSeconds”.
Setlist
Stay
Love The Way You Lie
Woo
Sex With Me
Birthday Cake
Numb
Pour It Up
BBHMM
Pose
Consideration
Live Your Life/All Of The Lights/Run This Town
Umbrella
Desperado
Man Down
Rude Boy
Work
Take Care
How Deep Is You Love/We Found Love
Where Have You Been
Needed Me
Same Ol’ Mistakes
Diamonds
FourFiveSeconds
Love On The Brain
Kiss It Better