RNB Fridayz Live @ HBF Park
Saturday, November 5, 2022
It’s been a while between drinks for Fridayz Live, so it was no wonder that walking into HBF Park on Saturday alongside thousands of other RnB fans was exciting. As is their MO, the line-up leant heavily into nostalgia, stacked with artists from the 90s and 2000s, plus a couple of more “recent” (meaning their hits are about ten years old) acts to cater for the younger crew. Looking around, the crowd was predictably mixed, a woman wearing a “Fifty and Fabulous” sash was rubbing shoulders with a girl dressed as a taco who was dancing next to a group of eshays.
The other MO of Fridayz Live has always been short sets from opening artists, featuring a mashup of their songs, like a live remix. Lumidee, known best for her 2003 song Never Leave You, which was famously out of tune but somehow still very catchy, was on stage for mere minutes before making way for Dru Hill! You could barely notice that there was a performer and not just a DJ.
By comparison, all six of Dru Hill’s members (including Sisqo) made the stage their own with their coordinated dances straight from 1996. They had half an hour to run through hits like In My Bed and How Deep Is Your Love. However, it wasn’t until Jay Sean started that the party really began. By now the bars were busy and the dance floor was full.
Jay Sean was the electronic element of the line-up. He can thank his current resurgence to TikTok, a cover of his track Ride It being used as the soundtrack to nearly two million videos on the platform. It received the first real screams of the day from the crowd, as did his song Down, though his cover of Maxi Priest’s Close To You was a highlight.
Still at the portion of proceedings where artists are playing mashups of their songs, or even just performing a chorus or a few lines, unfortunately Shaggy’s set went from exciting to frustrating. He walked on to chants of “we love reggae” and kicked off with Luv Me, Luv Me, but just as we got the opportunity to get into a song, it was cut short. He then proceeded to sing verses from Bob Marley, Inner Circle, and UB40, wandering the stage like a hype man rather than the act we wanted to see. As the smell of weed permeated the air, we finally got a taste, but just a taste, of Angel and Hey Sexy Lady. Momentarily forgetting the majority of the crowd’s age, he attempted to get everyone to wine down to the floor, but it seemed no one wanted to risk not being able to get back up again! Eventually everyone got a bit of Bombastic and the set ended with nearly all of It Wasn’t Me.
Between sets, DJ Yo! Mafia spun all the classic hits, and it would actually be so fun to just have a full length set from her. Despite what appeared to be a few tech issues, she carried the party vibes between sets. Fatman Scoop was MCing once again, this time joined by Abbie Chatfield who made her way from reality TV to radio host. At one point, during the introductory videos played between artists, even Albo made an appearance on screen.
Many remember Ashanti as Ja Rule’s protege, but she released some era-defining tracks of her own in the noughties. They certainly got pumped at clubs like Varga Lounge back then! In fact, she’s just got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Flanked by backup dancers, jets of smoke propelled into the air as she launched into Happy, which was mixed into Dr Dre’s The Next Episode. 2004’s Only You was the perfect song with enough oomph to get the pyrotechnics exploding on the beat. Although we still weren’t getting entire songs, she wove her way through so many hits it was totally forgiven, even performing her guest vox on Fat Joe’s What’s Love and Fabolous’ Into You. Rock Wit You, one of her biggest singles, was mixed into MJ’s Rock With You to the crowd’s delight, but it was Always On Time that sent them wild, followed by Foolish.
What’s your flavour? For this reviewer, it’s Craig David. A sure highlight of the line-up, he went right back to the beginning of his career, opening with Artful Dodger’s UK garage hit Re-Rewind which he sang on, right up to his more recent collaboration with Kaytranada, Got It Good. In between, he wooed the crowd with his early noughties RnB hits. The first artist to play with a full band, it was really unfortunate that there seemed to be some sound issues, particularly with the drums being muddled in the mix. Not that anyone seemed to mind, judging by the reactions to Fill Me In, 7 Days, and What’s Your Flava? His voice remains impeccable, as does his slick stage presence.
Moving along from Craig David’s smooth vibes, Akon whipped the crowd into party mode, bursting on stage with Locked Up. Every bit the image of a superstar, with an ankle length coat and blinding diamonds, he and his band made their way through hit after hit after hit. Who knew he had so many of them? Perhaps for this reason we had another set of partial songs, but no one seemed bothered. His collab with Snoop Dogg I Wanna Love You, followed by Smack That saw the dance floor swell and big singalongs, as did Don’t Matter, a more heartfelt moment in a party set. Then it was back to dancing with Right Now, and Akon jumped onto the crowd barrier for DJ Khaled’s Need You which he featured on. Bold move, but honestly, hands to selves’ people! Not only were people at the front copping a feel, someone undid his belt. Not cool. He took it in his stride and continued into David Guetta’s Play Hard which he also featured on, before crowdsurfing to another Guetta collaboration, Sexy Bitch.
In keeping with tradition, Fatman Scoop took the opportunity before TLC’s set to perform his infamous track Be Faithful, which is always a winner. By now the crowd was in high spirits and buzzing to see RnB royalty grace the stage. Opening with Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, from their debut album, T-Boz and Chilli took us back to the nineties. Their choreo was on point, as were their incredible back up dancers. Playing with a live band, a backing track had the inimitable Left-Eye’s vocals on it. It’s clear the group still want to pay homage to her in their live shows. Digging On You is a highlight, but it was the live horns announcing Creep that really brought the set to life. That said, half way through T-Boz and Chilli left the stage for a solid five minutes with no explanation leaving the audience underwhelmed and confused. Eventually they returned to the stage to perform their most popular songs, like Unpretty. Predictably, all phones went up for No Scrubs, which everyone knows every word to, but it was Waterfalls that got the best response. With sparkling pyrotechnics shooting across the stage, the women dedicated the track to Left-Eye, and performed the recognisable crossed arm, shoulder shrugging dance from the hugely famous film clip. Perhaps not the highlight one expected, their set was still a bit of a pinch-me moment.
Havana Brown stepped up to DJ as the stage was reset for Macklemore. Having released club hit We Run The Night with Pitbull, she hopped out from behind the decks momentarily to sing it, then continued carrying the vibes into the headliner. Macklemore was surrounded by a full band, and much to the crowd’s enthused surprise, was joined by Tones and I for opening track Chant, which they released a few months ago. With a gutsy chorus courtesy of the Aussie star, it was a rousing start to a hugely entertaining set that would have converted even the biggest sceptic. Thrift Shop saw the stadium dotted with phone lights, a song that still stands up a decade later. Macklemore won the crowd over, saying how much he loves Perth and wants to crash on someone’s couch for a couple weeks. He then went on to express his gratitude for being here, saying “there is nothing that can compete with the energy you feel when you watch live music” and by way of introducing Same Love, continued on to say we have two jobs; one is to have fun, the other is to spread love.
His positivity was infectious and it seemed like he genuinely wanted everyone to have a good time. The first artist to really engage the audience, he even got two audience members up for a dance off! Another musical guest, this time Eric Nally, joined in for Downtown and from the stadium view, the dancefloor had turned into a sea of people jumping up and down. Glorious was another highlight, followed by Good Old Days, which Tones and I joined in on. But it was Can’t Hold Us that saw everyone go wild. Deafening applause made way for passionate dancing, rounding out the day on a massive high. RNB Fridayz was another awesome installation of one of the most fun and nostalgic festivals going round.
SHANNON FOX
Photos by Linda Dunjey
