Sometimes my job is cool because I get free things. Like the tickets I got to the annual Wango Tango concert that’s produced by local radio station KIIS-FM.
Rob and I had a birthday dinner to attend so we got to the Staples Center an hour late and missed B.O.B, Iyaz, and Adam Lambert. That’s ok, though. I was really only there to see the headliners — Ludacris, Usher. And YES FINE OK, Justin Bieber. 😀
Our seats were pretty good! We were on the right side of the stage.
I noticed right away that I AM FREAKING OLD. There were groups of teenagers sitting in front of us. And between artists they all sat down, pulled out their phones, and sent text messages, posted on Facebook, etc. I admit I posted a Twitter update during a break but that was when Rob left to go to the bathroom and I didn’t have anyone to talk to!
ALSO. During the next set of artists, the teenagers knew ALL THE LYRICS to each song. And I knew… NONE. I guess Ke$ha, David Guetta/Kelly Rowland, and Akon are popular with that age group? I don’t know.
Anyway. Ke$ha was kerrazy and fun. Akon was diiiirrrrttyy. I felt dirty just watching him. And poor Kelly Rowland’s mic was messed up so you couldn’t hear her at all.
Introducing each artist were random “celebrities” like the casts of The City, The Hills, Twilight (I only recognized Ashley Greene and Nikki Reed), and freaking DAVID HASSELHOFF. Hilarious. But my favorite presenter was Derek Fisher from the Lakers!
That’s him. I swear.
The Lakers championship banners.
Ok. Back to the music. The last group of artists to perform were the ones I was most looking forward to. First up was JUSTIN BIEBER!!! I can’t help it. I like him. I cannot even explain why. It’s not that I think he’s cute (he’s too young). Or that he has an amazing voice. He just seems like a good kid, I guess. Or maybe I’ve just been infected with Bieber Fever. BWAHAHA.
Entirely possible.
He had a short set (only 6 songs) that included my favorites One Less Lonely Girl, One Time and Baby. SQUEE.
Next was Ludacris who seriously sounds EXACTLY the way he does on his records. No auto-tuning here (or whatever they do to artists to make them sound perfect). He was incredibly high energy and was even able to get ROB OUT OF HIS SEAT. That’s some amazing stuff. Sadly, I didn’t get a non-blurry picture of him.
And finally, closing the night was Usher!!! He had the longest set by far (30 minutes) and not only did he perform his new singles (Daddy’s Home, OMG), he also sang many of his older songs too (Nice and Slow, Confessions, Yeah, U Got it Bad, My Boo, Caught Up). He was great! YAY.
You know, it’s funny. I mentioned earlier that the teenagers around us were familiar with the earlier artists but when Usher started singing his older stuff, they didn’t know any of them. I really *am* old.
Usher!
After the concert, we walked to the other side of the Staples Center to check out the rest of LA Live. It’s amazing to see how developed the area is now. We also found the new Chick Hearn statue.
It was a good night. And my ears are still ringing. 😀
