I Love The 90's Australian Tour

I got a call late this afternoon from Chantal that she and Shevonne had a spare ticket for the I Love The 90's concert at Hisense Arena tonight. Once I saw the line up I knew I couldn't say no as it was a list of late 80s and early 90s hip hop and R&B acts that I used to watch on MTV.

First up was Young MC, who did a rap to Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" and of course played "Bust A Move." Next was Tone Loc, who not only played his hits "Funky Cold Medina" and "Wild Thing," but also did a cover of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice."

Three members of the boy band Color Me Badd hit the stage in matching outfits and sang their hits "All 4 Love," "I Adore Mi Amore" and "I Wanna Sex You Up," along with a cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity." Coolio was the next act to play, and had a band with him. Their set included "Fantastic Voyage," "I'll C U When U Get There," "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" and "Gangsta's Paradise." They also did a bizarrely short tribute to Prince by playing the intro to "Purple Rain" but not the whole song.

The main act that everyone was there to see was Salt N Pepa with DJ Spinderella. Celebrating 31 years together, they played lots of their best known songs, including "Do You Want Me," "Shake Your Thang," "Let's Talk About Sex," "Shoop," "Whatta Man," "None Of Your Business" and of course "Push It." Spinderella did a bit of a DJ set during the middle of the set, and they got some fans up on stage to dance with them, including a little kid who broke out some break dancing moves.

The closing act of the night was Vanilla Ice, who wanted to turn his set into a block party so he invited people up on stage just a couple of songs in. His set was all over the place as he played "Ninja Rap," his song from the 1990s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie,  "Play That Funky Music" and of course "Ice Ice Baby," which resulted in nearly half of the crowd heading for the exits once it was done. He did a freestyle rap with Coolio and Tone Loc, and finished the evening by doing a cover of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" to a near empty arena.

Overall while the concert was entertaining it was a bit sad to see a packaged tour which was clearly just a money grab. Everyone quickly played their hits and then got off the stage for the next act. I imagine it would be a bit demoralising, but then I guess if you need the money you have to cash in somehow.