Sophie Mei | 
05 17th, 2010| 
This week the Hallam FM Sheffield Arena hosted two spectacular gigs – Westlife and Rihanna feat. Pixie Lott – I was extremely fortunate to attend both. Although apparently it’s not ‘cool’ to want to bop along to Westlife?! Those were the good old days!
So here’s the lowdown…
Westlife belted out their classic songs in a low-key show in a light-hearted and personable fashion. It was a real blast from my ten year-old past and scarily enough it looked like most of the audience were twenty-plus too – is this a sign of age?
Nonetheless, the former famous five, now four, group impressed the packed-out arena with their slightly ‘cutting-edge’ come ‘Republic’ image but they did not shy away from the cheesy boy band white suits – you’ve got to love it!
My friend Louise and I cheerfully bopped along to our favourite songs, swaying our arms in the air whilst our male friends remained seated looking down at their Iphones. Unfortunately, they weren’t recording the gig just texting! Huh that’s typical Men!
The guys did peak up at the end as they are friends with the drummer so we all did the male thing post-gig and went on the rampage to find food, beer and fags.
An old favourite with most touring artistes is the Wicker’s Mama Leonie’s for some Caribbean grub but unfortunately, Mama had gone to bed by the time we got their so it was my turn to suggest a venue. I always find it difficult to recommend places as I’m vegetarian, a lover of spicy food, don’t like beer or smoking and I’m more bothered about the entertainment that than the grub in Sheffield.
However, a favourite haunt of mine after a fairly late school night is to go to Jabu on London Rd, which is Sheffield’s very own steamboat restaurant. You sit around a table with a boiling pot or ‘steam boat’ in the middles which is full of boiling stock. You then order whatever fresh ingredients you want off the menu and throw them in until their cooked. You can have everything from bamboo shoots to king prawns or if you’re a vegetarian like me you can opt for Beancurd sticks. Yummy!
Ok so the Westlife night all went well and inoffensively so it was time to break a few boundaries and get dressed up for Rihanna (my sister Gemma Slack actually made a leather mouth gag for her which she wore in Italian Vogue magazine).
Well, what a show we were in for, not only were we stood up (true gig style) it was extremely hot in more ways than one.
My good friend and I couldn’t face venturing into the pit of the sweaty crowd so we stayed dancing on the outskirts whilst our other friends headed straight for the ‘Mosh’ pit.
Pixie kicked off the night with some covers including Stevie Wonder as it was his birthday (I’ll be honest I can’t name as they all sounded very similar but that’s not actually a criticism as she has a strong and unique voice in her own right) and finished with her hit single: ‘
There was then an interval which, gave us time to grab a few more drinks, witness a drunken lady dancing and Singing Rihanna songs in the toilets and even bump into some old friends.
And then we waited.
And waited
And…
Waited.
After an hour, the screens kindly invited us to ‘Enter Rihanna’s Dream world’ – I’m an Aries so I’m very impatient and at this point I was already in a dream world. Nonetheless, once Rihanna’s voice echoed the Arena the wait seemed to be worthwhile.
She spoilt us with her classic songs as well as her latest plus a few covers to the likes of Oasis. Not only did her voice sound good she really put on a show which had everything from smoke and strobes to dancers in cages and silks.
Ever since, witnessing her very entertaining show however, I have been debating with my flat mate as he thought it was an all-round amazing piece of entertainment, which I agree with as I had a fabulous evening BUT for me there was just a little too much of everything. A little too much lighting, nudity and ahem bondage. Don’t get me wrong I’m no prude and it was all choreographed to perfection but for me to do a show like that in front of youngsters I found a little too ‘sexual.’ And I’m no prude but we really do have to be careful about targeting the right audience especially when it comes to artists that appeal to the younger generation.
Watch a clip of the stunning twenty-two year old here
I must however finish on a positive note as it was an absolutely fantastic evening, Rihanna was amazing, the dancers were exciting and the set was adventurous as well as personable.
Keep reading to find out what happened when I got exclusive access to speak to Rihanna’s stunning dancers …