Those unwilling to shell out $34 for Girlicious this past Wednesday night were few and far between – if they were over the age of twelve.
When 9:00 p.m. rolled around and the girls were supposed to take the stage, the Student Union Building was full of middle-school aged girls (and their parents) who couldn’t wait to see the fab four perform.
Unfortunately, the warm up act, DJ Nasty Naz, was forced to kill time for 47 minutes as the girls and their special guest Danny Fernandes failed to be seen. This did not affect the attitude of the crowd however, as a group managed to hoist a comrade onto their shoulders in a short-lived crowd surfing effort. Unfortunately, the aforementioned comrade tumbled to the floor as he punched the air much like a Powerpuff Girl.
Danny Fernandes, a Torontonian, performed after this incident, and was a refreshingly good act; he and two male back-up dancers impressed the ladies to a feverous extent. At one point, the dancers mopped their sweaty brows with towels and tossed them to the crowd. In a wedding bouquet fever, the preteen demographic of Fredericton dove for these towels as their irritated boyfriends stood by. Surely, they must have regretted buying Tiffany or Jessica those tickets she begged for for their three and a half week anniversary.
Fernandes took time after performing to invite the Brunswickan to the green room for an interview.
Fernandes told the Bruns that he was discovered on the internet by a German DJ. He chuckled, explaining that it was weird since Curious was out in 2003, being played in Germany.
Fernandes said that his crowd pleaser is Curious, as well as Private Dancer.
When asked, Fernandes stated that his hit, Private Dancer has nothing to do with Tina Turner. Those who grew up in the 1980s may get this reference.
Now rehearsing seven hours a day, Danny has come a long way since touring with Aaron Carter and being a back up dancer for his brother Shawn Desman. He stated that although he liked Girlicious, he doesn’t exactly listen to them in his spare time.
Speaking of them, Girlicious did not grace the SUB with their presence until 10:15, long after the median age in the room should have been asleep on a school night, dazzling the crowd with Let’s Do Some Stupid Shh! and Like Me. Though the Gwen Stefani-esque finger-to-lips “SHH!” (Girlicious used this lyric to replace a word some of my friends might use to categorize their music) certainly pleased the parents present Wednesday night, some grim looks on mothers’ faces told the story of a different reaction to the booty shorts that danced before them.
You could almost hear the eyes of anyone who had seen way too much Pimp My Ride roll simultaneously when one of the Girlicious girls announced “That song was so tight it was like a car on hydraulics!”
All sarcasm aside, the concert was an entertaining experience. Drink Smart was at the event, and even their staff joined the younger crowd for a few songs.
While DJ Nasty Naz stalled with crowd pleaser go-to’s such as AC/DC, Justin Timberlake and more Rihanna than a girl can stand, smiles were on everyone’s faces. The catchy though repetitive (Oh yeah! I’m vicious! I’m delicious! Hey! Oh yeah!) music from the main act aimed to please even the cynics of the crowd. Between songs, as the girls had the audience excited as a junior high pep rally (“When I say girl, you say licious! Girl! Licious!”) no one hesitated to scream shamelessly like the UNB generation once did at Nsync. A mic failure during Baby Doll even proved the girls were not lip-synching.
As the concert came to an end, and the fluorescent lights flickered back on, it became very obvious how out of place the girls were that had previously been grinding and taking promiscuous pictures for Facebook in front of the stage.
Whatever happened to our values at our age? The boys who wore jeans that fit, and didn’t have to worry about what colour their boxers were that day, because they were tucked securely behind a layer of denim? The girls, the ones who thought wearing a miniskirt made you a skank, and waited until high school before they even thought about cleavage? Are those times never to be seen again?
Girlicious reminds us of the state of popular culture, and makes us think of the good old days, when the Spice Girls promoted girl power and “Just Do It”, the Nike slogan, contained no sexual innuendos at all.