Jason Derulo – Brisbane Entertainment Centre
04.05.2014
Three albums into his career, and with a slew of hits under his belt, Pop / R&B singer Jason Derulo is aiming to attain the stadium star status of forerunners Justin Timberlake and Usher with his 2014 Tattoos World Tour. After thrilling audiences on the tour’s European leg, it rolled into the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Saturday.
Ricki-Lee Coulter handled opening formalities. The former Australian Idol runner-up had little trouble building up the excitement levels in the near-packed arena. With her dazzling vocal range she belted out a mix of club-ready pop tracks and R&B-infused fused ballads – a soulful rendition of Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up’ was the standout.
Audience members could be forgiven for their impatience as they chanted ‘Ja-son’ while his team readied the stage. They’d been left disappointed after Derulo’s 2012 tour was cancelled last-minute due to a neck fracture he’d suffered in rehearsals. But from the minute the 24-year-old shimmied onto the stage it was clear the wait had been worth his fan’s while. Tightly choreographed and shatteringly high intensity Derulo’s time between tours has allowed him to concoct a stadium-worthy set. Accompanied by a world-class group of hip-hop dancers the performance literally shook the stands with the BPM rarely dropping below booty shaking levels. A young man of immense charm and talent Derulo’s show was clearly geared at the largely female audience who screamed carnally throughout. Early tracks came from Derulo’s hit-laden back catalogue ‘In My Head’, ‘Whatcha Say’ and ‘Flyin Solo’ all upping the ante. A few songs in Derulo was drenched in sweat and definitely feeling the love from the audience. From this point clothes became optional as he and his homeboys jived and jerked through a set that was much more about dance than song (many tracks relied on a pre-recorded vocal). Things got a little bit too Hen’s Night Out when Derulo and co turned the show into a live work-out session flexing and grinning through some spectacular pull-up derivatives on the stage props to the screams of the young ladies in the front row. When the performance got back to its musical intention Derulo laid down hit after hit culminating in a sweeping acapella introduction to the bass frenzy of ‘Don’t Wanna Go Home’. The only cover of the night Lorde’s ‘Royals’ was fairly subdued, a highlight coming when the wealthy pop star sang the line ‘I’ve never seen a diamond in the flesh’ then looked down at his glimmering wrist-piece and laughed ‘I lie’. A tour de force of selections from his chart topping Tattoos album closed out the raucous event culminating in an energetic rendition of his chart-topping smash ‘Trumpets’.
Nolan Giles
ENDS
