The crowd at Jake's Nightclub got a little less than what they expected, and rap sensation Nelly got a little more last Friday night. Doors to the Derrty Entertainment IU Homecoming Party opened at nine PM, and a long line snaked along Walnut Street as girls in tight shorts and boys in puffy coats shivered in the mid-October night. My BF and fellow Live Buzz blogger, Alexa, and I waited anxiously for the chance to see Nelly, two time Grammy winner and middle-school dreamboat.
We waited in the line for about an hour, chatting with several interesting people during that time. One common theme ran through most of our conversations: what was going to happen at this event? Our friends in line had many hypotheses: some predicted Nelly would play a full set; others insisted that he was only there to host our party. Nobody really knew what was going to happen, but excitement was definitely in the air.
"I'm most excited for the company, the drinks, and the music," said senior IU student Patrick Bainer.
After the lengthy line, we finally made it into Jake's, where the crowd was buzzing and the DJ was cranked loud. For two and a half hours, we shook our tailfeathers to a playlist of the Top 100 rap and R & B songs of the last ten years. Although admittedly fun, I confess we started getting worried as the clock ticked towards 1 AM and there was no sign of Nelly. As we waited, I chatted with senior Purdue student Nick Johnson, visiting from West Lafayette for his fifth weekend in a row.
"I've seen a few concerts this year," Nick said, "I saw Dave Matthews Band over the summer, and Jimmy Buffet. But I'm really excited about this show."
Finally, after more than a few raucous chants of "NELLY, NELLY," the stage finally changed. Nelly, wearing a leather bomber jacket, dark shades, and a LOT of bling, climbed onstage and gave an announcement that few were expecting:
"I've been booty-trapped," he declared, "I've been tricked into getting onstage and performing."
In an apparent miscommunication between his people and Jake's crew, Nelly was definitely not expecting to get onstage and perform this evening. After claiming that he was only at Jake's to party and drink, he finally resigned himself to performing for the wildly cheering crowd. The DJ cued up some old school songs, and the show finally (at 12:50 AM) began.
Nelly kicked it off with his 2007 single "Party People,", but the crowd really went wild as he started his second song "E.I.", from his 2000 album Country Grammar. The audience was quick to join in, singing along with the chorus "Andele andele moma E.I. E.I., uh ohhhhhhhh." Nelly powered through a few more of his well-known hits, including "Grillz" and "Shake Ya Tailfeather," and new song "PYT." (MJ allusion not intended.)
As the crowd chanted for more, it was clear that Nelly was itching to get offstage and back to the party. He asked the DJ to cue up his last song (which sounded like "Ride wit Me" from the sounds of the beginning), but the sound sputtered out and the performance was halted.
As the sound man climbed the stage to re-work the sound, Nelly chatted with those closest to him in the crowd. He acknowledged a few different birthdays in the crowd, and then began a lengthy conversation with the audience about various astrological signs. It turns out that Nelly's a Scorpio! (Apparently a smooth performance wasn't in his horoscope that morning.)
Finally, the sound was pronounced fixed, allowing Nelly to perform "Hot in Herre," the best-received song of the night. Then, perhaps as a gift for the birthday girls he bonded with during the break, he closed with "Dilemma," a soulful rap ballad he recorded with Kelly Rowland. After finishing, Nelly exited the stage with his entourage in a cloud of smoke as the crowd went wild. All hopes for an encore were dashed, however, when the sound crew started dissembling the DJ station immediately after his exit.
Neither Nelly nor the crowd got quite what they bargained for Friday night at Jake's. However, in a brief and slightly erratic performance, he managed to remind everyone in attendance why he is the reigning rap king of the Billboard charts.
Cheers!
Kat
