Jessica Simpson, Hilary Duff - December 6th, 2003
Dec 09 '03
The Bottom Line The Bottom Line apologizes for the length of the review...
Tickets = $65.00
T-Shirt = $30.00
Poster = $10.00
Glow Stick = $5.00
Taking your little girl to her first concert experience = Priceless
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! You didn't even use a MasterCard, teamfreak16 - you paid for everything with a VISA so quit ripping off the MasterCard commercial! BOOOOOOOOO!!
Ahem. It's true. I, teamfreak16, did in fact just see Jessica Simpson and Hilary Duff in concert. Why? Let's back up about a month or so, when I first learned Hilary Duff would be coming to Denver. Our little girl, Hayley happens to be a big Hilary Duff fan. Hayley had been working hard in school, and brought her grades up as a result. As a reward, I purchased a couple of tickets. Since Hayley is only eight, she has never actually been to a concert before - so I did not tell her about it until we arrived at the Fillmore Auditorium and got in line. She figured it out pretty quickly on her own, as we walked to the end of the (long) line - are we here to go to a concert? I guess my ruse of taking her Christmas shopping fell through due to the length of the line - even an eight-year-old knows nobody waits in a block-long line to go Christmas shopping. She correctly guessed Hilary Duff on her second try (Evanescence was her first hope.)
Note - here is where the concert review gets a bit tricky. I don't actually know any of the songs by the artists on the Snowball bill, other than those of Hilary Duff. Until the show, I honestly had never heard any songs by Jessica Simpson, for instance. I can't tell you how some song or other compares to the studio version, because I haven't heard them. What I am here to do is to give you my impressions of what I saw, and some of the things I liked.
The concert itself was billed as the KISS 95.7 Snowball, sponsored by local pop station KISS 95.7. I am unsure whether this is a package tour, or KISS brought in all the acts for the show. Regardless, there were a few things that made it an enjoyable show.
First up was Wayne Wonder. I can't say I've ever heard of him, honestly. However, I got the idea he is from Jamaica. Wonder played an enjoyable R&B set sprinkled with a hint of Caribbean flavor and a bit of Hip-Hop attitude. He has a pleasant singing voice, and his hype-man gets points for wearing a Tony Gwynn jersey. I would say Wayne Wonder should probably try not to dedicate every single song to all of Denver's lovely ladies - the average age of Denver's lovely ladies in attendance was probably around 13 (not counting parents.) Other than that, I personally enjoyed his music. I liked his vocals, and the music was catchy enough to hold my attention. Hayley could've cared less; she was focused solely on seeing Hilary Duff.
What to watch out for: Wayne Wonder does have a couple of scantily clad female dancers onstage - they spend a lot of time shaking their butts at him. I personally don't mind such things. However - if you are taking kids, you might want to be aware of this beforehand. It's no worse than they see on TV, but some have more tolerance for such things than others.
Next up was Nick Lachey, who came onstage to enthusiastic screams and shrieks from the female portion of the audience. Again, I had never actually heard this guy before the show. However, I did like his short set. Why? Lachey did a short, acoustic set - backed only by two acoustic guitarists. The dude can really sing - the acoustic setting highlighted this fact. To me, the acoustic theme also made him into more than just a boy band guy. He played a couple of solo songs (forgive me for not knowing what they were - after all, I wouldn't know one of his songs if you hit me with it.) He also did a short medley of 98 Degrees songs, much to the enthusiasm of the girls. An announcement that 98 Degrees would be working on a new album in the future brought more shrieks. Hayley thought he was OK - she probably would have enjoyed it more had he actually done the boy band thing.
What to watch out for: well, nothing really. Other than the inevitable over-enthusiasm of the teenage females in attendance, Lachey's set was actually enjoyable.
At this point, I realized that the short dude from the KISS 95.7 air staff was Danny Bonaduce. He does mornings on the station, from Los Angeles. They must have flown him in for the show. Does it get any better than watching the former Danny Partridge onstage, introducing pop-music acts? I think not.
Next up - JC Chasez, whom I could have done without. I couldn't even figure out what they were saying his name was - it wasn't until a couple days later that I realized he was from NSYNC. Here is what we got - no musicians - the music is entirely sequenced. The choreography was good - except it featured a bunch of dancers dressed (and acting) as slutty as possible. (I would not have minded this had I not had an eight-year-old girl up on my shoulders. Luckily, she seemed indifferent to it and decided she wanted to sit on the floor and wait for Hilary Duff.) JC's set consisted of an extended remix of a hyper-energy dance tune apparently called All I Think About Is Sex, since that seemed to be the only lyric. I'm guessing he did a couple other songs, but it all sounded alike to me. I'm sure this stuff has its place, but it seemed out of character with the rest of the bill.
What to watch out for: see above. I might have been able to enjoy the set a bit more if I hadn't had Hayley with me. Then again, I kind of thought the dude came across as a bit of a clown. Thankfully, his set was short. (I know many of you who write regularly on this site probably like this guy. Before you rip me apart in the comments, put yourself in my shoes. I had no idea he was on the bill - and I was certainly unprepared for his stage show. I am merely a guy trying to be a responsible parent. Alone, I won't hesitate to go see more offensive stuff than this - I just don't think it was a good fit for the young kids in attendance. Geez I feel old now...)
Finally, Hilary Duff appeared complete with rock band and backup vocalists. Playing songs off her new CD Metamorphosis, Duff actually rocked. The CD is very pop-oriented - but the songs get a new treatment live. The guitars were loud, and we even got treated to some nice solos. Even if a song started out somewhat pop-oriented, by the end of it the band was rocking out. This didn't seem to bother the young Hilary Duff brigade in the least. Being Hayley's first concert, I was interested to see how she'd react. She did fine, knowing just when to climb down off my shoulders to dance (Metamorphosis; Why Not; The Math). She also seemed to know exactly when to scream her head off, and when to punctuate the chorus by thrusting her glow-stick in the air. What was the highlight of the set? The band ripped through a version of The Who's My Generation. Granted, it wasn't as cool as Patti Smith's version - then again, I can't picture those lyrics coming out of Duff's mouth.
What to watch out for: unless you don't like the idea of Hilary Duff fronting a hard-rock band, nothing really. And if you don't like the idea of Hilary Duff in general, the band actually makes the set more enjoyable.
Finally, Jessica Simpson closed out the evening with an acoustic set of her own. Despite all the reviews on this site, I had never heard a Jessica Simpson song. Much like her husbands earlier set, the acoustic theme gave me an appreciation of her voice. She seemed genuinely pleased that her fans were singing along with her. Because she announced the songs, I know she opened with In This Skin. She also did a nice version of Sweetest Sin. I have to say that the only thing that got old (to me) was her need to dedicate every single song to Nick Lachey. Then again, I am not her target audience - her fans loved it. Simpson also did the evenings only encore - she dragged Lachey back onstage for an acappella duet of Oh Holy Night.
What to watch out for: Absolutely nothing was wrong with Jessica Simpson's set.
All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Jessica Simpson, Hilary Duff, and Nick Lachey in particular seemed to go out of their way to build a rapport with their fans during their respective sets. The acoustic sets gave me an appreciation for the vocal talent of Lachey and Simpson. And I was definitely not expecting Hilary Duff to bring out an actual rock band. Her high energy set was a lot of fun to watch. Considering I probably wouldn't ever go to a show like this on my own, I had a good time. Hayley is still talking about the experience and took her concert shirt and CD in for Show and Tell. I think I have created another live music fan.
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teamfreak16
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Member: Scott G
Location: Colorado Springs, CO/Sheridan, WY
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I am a Two-Legged Groove Machine.
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