I just came back from the show. I had a ridiculously good seat it was right be the side of the stage. Aside from the lights on the opposite side of the stage blinding me at times I had a great view. When I first got to my seat when LL Cool J, the opening act, was about to come on, I was really not happy because I thought I had an obstructed view, this huge amp was in the way. Since a bunch of seats in my row were empty I moved down a few seats so I could actually see. Then about 1/2 way through the LL's set this usher told me I needed to move because someone else was sitting there so I moved back to my actual seat. A few minutes a family came and sat next to me. I noticed the dad, who was sitting right next to me, was really dressed up, he was wearing a suit and even a hat (this should give a clue to who this person was, haha).

The break after Janet's set seemed pretty long. A few minutes before her set starts almost the entire row in front of me was cleared out, which was weird. I guess a bunch of people had sat there that didn't belong there. Then I hear this girl yell out, "JACKSON 5!" I looked down at the group of people on the floor that had just come from backstage and it was Janet's brother Jermaine and her sister LaToya. Jermaine was wearing this sequined jacket that had "Jackson 5" on the back of it. They walked up some steps and sat in the row in front of me.image Then the wheels started turning in my head about the guy sitting next to me. I had thought earlier that his hat kind of reminded me of the ones Janet's producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis wear. Then I realized that it probably actually was one of them, but I was sure which one, I was leaning towards Terry for some reason. I hit up google looking for a picture and it was in fact Jimmy Jam.image It was kind of crazy sitting next to the guy that produced so many of the hits that were being performed on stage.

The show itself was so awesome. The set list was not quite the same as the one I posted a couple of weeks ago, but I think for the most part the songs were the same, just in a different order. The show started off with a few hits from the Control album which of course really got the crowd going. It's been 7 years since the last time Janet has toured, but the girl's still got it. All of the classic choreography from the music videos was being danced with each song Janet sang. I think one of my favorite parts of the show was at the end of "Miss You Much" when Janet asks, "That's the end?" And everyone in the audience screams, "NOOO!" because they know what's coming next. Unfortunately the lights were pretty blinding for me during the chair sequence of that song so it was kind of hard for me to see. Other favorite moments include "If" and "Rhythm Nation", Janet did the little count down thing while standing on the cat walk directly in front of where I was sitting. There weren't that many songs in the set that I didn't know and it's been several years since I bought one of her albums, so it was really mostly her hit singles.

In an article I read the other day about this tour Janet said that this tour is really for the fans. She even got her fans' input on the set list by having them leave voice mail messages with their suggestions. What's really crazy is she actually called back some of the people and talked to them.image I think any of you that are going will not be disappointed the show is really great overall. There were only a couple things I didn't like, the little interlude stuff in between the songs was supposed to have this over lying theme/narrative that I didn't really get. The second thing was the bondage/dominatrix section of the show that seems to have become a mainstay of Janet's show, it's a bit much for me. Jimmy had brought his wife and kids to the show and I noticed that they got up and left right before that uh, adult-themed section started, and happened to come back right after it was done. I suspect Janet might have given them the heads up on that; Jimmy's kids are still on the young side.

I got several videos that I will first put up on youtube and then upload the original files for download.

ETA: After reading a few articles about the concert, it turns out the guy sitting next to me was actually Jimmy Jam, not Terry Lewis as I had posted before. I just went through and replaced Jimmy's name wherever I had written Terry before, haha.

Edited 1 time by rhaps0dy99 09/18/08 9:04 PM.