Rihanna blew up Bridgestone Arena last Friday night, figuratively speaking of course. Rocking an almost sold out ruckus crowd, the Barbadian singer brought her 7th concert tour ‘The Anti World Tour’ to Music City. This tour comes in support of her 8th studio album Anti. Nashville was one of 72 scheduled shows. In November of 2015, Rihanna inked a $25 million contract with Samsung to promote Samsung’s Galaxy line of products, and to also sponsor the release of Anti and its supporting tour. The Samsung-sponsored tour began at the beginning of this month, with Travis Scott supporting in North America and The Weeknd and Big Sean supporting at selected European dates. The tour will end in August of this year.
Following the release of her 7th studio album, Unapologetic, the superstar pop diva went on a hiatus. She took a step back from music, opting to take part in other endeavors. Now, Rihanna is back on tour and is clearly killing it. Not only is her material great, her style and attitude is what helped make her a star. Now that’s she’s a household name across the world, designers are eager to custom make her outfits for her Anti world tour.
Clad in a hooded smock that opened in the back to reveal thigh-high garter boots and plenty of booty, Rihanna kicked things off in a minimalistic fashion, singing ‘Stay’ and ‘Love the Way You Lie’ to simple, keyboard accompaniment coming from the main stage. Then she slowly made her way there, walking on an elevated catwalk that deposited her on a stage devoid of any props or decoration save for light effects and a constantly changing backdrop that went from psychedelic to art installation. It delivered a ‘wow’ effect.
Armed with a battalion of dancers and a jamming band, Rihanna went through multiple outfit changes to deliver a show that was visually riveting and musically compelling. Performing both old hits and new material, Rihanna twerked and danced. However, it was sleek and elegant, more sensual and sexy than raunchy. She also toned it down a notch, especially when she performed ‘Kiss It Better.’ She gave a huge thank you to the Music City at the start, in the middle and at the end of her performance. Maybe Nashville surprised her. She was locked in from jump. The fans stayed on their feet the entire time. “I love her,” said a crying female fan.
In the end, for the final set, Rihanna came out singing in more acoustic fashion, finishing things off with the aforementioned ‘Kiss it Better,’ then leaving the stage as credits rolled. This was a finely choreographed evening. The outfits and that catwalk alone were well worth it.
“Brand new tour. Brand new era. Brand new album. Brand new approach,” in her own words.
