Monday night saw Rihanna take to the stage at London's HMV Forum on her highly publicised 777 tour: 7 countries, 7 days, 7 shows, to promote her 7th album, 'Unapologetic'. All the gigs were invite only, so the crowd was a mix of corporate media types, fashion pack, and teenage mega fans who had won their tickets some way or another. As much as it sounds dire, it actually wasn't, the crowd mix worked really well – corporate types stepped back and let everyone else have a brilliant night, with the space to throw as many overtly "sexy" shapes as they wanted (inspired of course by the brilliantly slutty antics going on onstage).
Riri was suitably an hour late to the stage, and the warm up DJ was awful, BUT, it did mean we all had time to neck at least five pints, so by the time she came on stage it was game on. The show itself was, for one of the world's biggest stars, amazingly small and intimate. We placed ourselves quite a way back (dancing room, you see), but could still see perfectly, to the point that one of the guys was asking about her jewellery.
She went on to hit it hard, fast and deep, and was unquestionably amazing. Nailing all the hits, with every single member of the crowd singing along at some point. From 'Umbrella' to 'Only Girl', 'Whats my Name?' to 'S&M', 'Birthday Cake' to 'Man Down', 'Cockiness' to 'Diamonds'. New track 'Phresh Out the Runway' got an airing as did slowed down acoustic versions of 'Take a Bow' and 'Unfaithul', even the collabs, from Jay to Yeezy. Then, of course, she closed in an explosion of smoke, glitter and confetti with 'We Found Love' – it was brilliant, and reminded you why she's the star that she is.
The whole gig was amazing, the the opportunity to see such a mega star in such an intimate setting was, for want of a better word, incredible. Last night we got to taste the sweat dripping from one of the hottest and talented women in the world. And it tasted good.
Words by Rob Meyers