See the full 36-photo Ke$ha at Klipsch Amphitheater at Bayfront Park slideshow.
Ke$ha's Get $leazy Tour
With LMFAO, and Spank Rock
Bayfront Park
August 7, 2011
Better Than: Campbell's Tomato Soup on a hot day.
At about the moment when Ke$ha performed "We R Who We R," it became clear why so many people had come out to watch this $leazy show despite the oppressively trite lyrics and dizzying heat. The blond songstress sang, "We'll be forever young, you know we're superstars!" The internet has let us all be "famous."
Ever since the popularity of nightlife photography with sites like Last Night's Party and street fashion with FaceHunter and The Sartorialist, America's youth has decided that it is indeed famous.
They dress as if a camera's following their every move. And they have to be worth photographing. So they gotta party like P. Diddy in 1999. Every club is Studio 54 in its heyday. $leazy is how we see the reality stars and heiresses act as they flash their crotches and party in Vegas as the paparazzi snap away at them. $leazy is the only way to have fun.
This generation was born with an email address. And Ke$ha's message speaks to its exuberance and self-importance. By the end of her performance, she was stumbling around like Nicole Richie at her worst, only to be carried offstage after the final song by a man dressed in a half-assed Santa Claus suit.
The crowd was filled with young kids, their dancing moms, and mostly girls and gay boys from the ages of 15 to 24. They're totally sold on the dramatic lyrics and goofy drunkenness of the singer. Every song was a sing-along at top volume.
Spank Rock kindly spared us any frills. His performance whipped the crowd into a frenzy, and he seemed to enjoy unlikely fans. Meanwhile, the thing that made both LMFAO and Ke$ha's shows so memorable were the abundance of absurd props.
LMFAO's crew included a handful of acrobatic dancers. They were basically a breakdancing-Broadway-troupe-meets-bargain-bin-workout-video. And the stage looked like a dollar store. They had a life-size, blow-up zebra that got ridden and thrown to the crowd, a blow-up palm tree (for "I'm in Miami Bitch"), what looked like a carton of milk, a 40-ounce bottle of booze, and there was a guy in a panda suit. There was confetti and a beer funnel. All the little ladies ate up the goofy fun-times aesthetic and jumped about to the dance party anthems.
LMFAO expressed their appreciation for this town that made them famous, saying they first came in '07 for WMC and noting that they owe everything to Miami. However, their performance was a little lackluster considering the crowd's energy. It could have been quite insane. But it was just OK. All the dudes onstage got down to Speedos for "Sexy and I Know It," to the thrill of the tweens.
Ke$ha's show went from being like, "Is she gonna move?" to "Wait, what's going on?" At first, she seemed to be standing around with instruments that she wasn't playing. For "Blah Blah Blah," she ran out onstage with a bandana wrapped Rocky-style around her cranium while carrying a guitar that looked like a gun. There were two guys dancing, one with zebra undies, the other with an American flag. If it were Bono up there, we might have to say this was some sort of comment on the troops. But it was Ke$sha, and so it was just confusing.
Around the time she launched into "Party at a Rich Dude's House," Ke$ha said something that sounded like, "I'm so fucked up!" And yes, she seemed fucked up, rolling around on the floor. The stage show for "Cannibal" was pretty entertaining. Girl dancers hopped around the stage and attached a man to a big black wooden X. As the X spun, the women danced around with fake hands in their mouths. Ke$ha looked like she was drinking his blood. And when the X swung around, it had a skeleton hanging there instead of a dude. A bit Halloweeny.
A guy yelled out, "I'll eat you up, Ke$ha!"
And now, a list of some of the props: Big fake cameras, guitars, things that looked like blowtorches, a glitter-filled drum, a snare and a bass drum being played by guys in underwear and band jackets, fake body parts, ribbon streamers, a dinosaur pinata, toilet paper, someone in a full-body dick suit (who ripped down the pinata), and water.
For "Dinosaur," there was a dude in a dinosaur mask and two in skull masks, cowbells were played, walkers were thrown about. Yes, walkers ... Two huge red balloons filled with glitter were sent out to the audience and when they popped, you know what happened, everyone was covered with the most annoying party prop ever.
Ke$ha yelled, "I have a problem, though. I don't think I have enough glitter on my body." And then she shoved her hand down between her breasts, dug something out, and threw it into the air. "That's my titty glitter for you!" Thanks, Ke$ha. Real nice.
It was a party at Bayfront. One that just might inspire Miami's young folks to dance, sing, get fucked up, and dress like a moron. Basically, to have fun. Maybe Ke$ha's message (though irresponsible and delusional) isn't so bad. You know, it's really hard to have an awesome time while looking like a lady.
Critic's Notebook
The crowd: Young and excited. Also, sleazy and scary.
Personal bias: There is nothing I hate more than glitter. It is poison and it never goes away.
Ke$ha's Setlist:
-"Sleazy"
-"Take It Off"
-"Fuck Him (He's a DJ)"
-"Blow"
-"Blah Blah Blah"
-"Party at a Rich Dude's House"
-"Backstabber"
-"Cannibal"
-"The Harold Song"
-"Animal"
-"Dinosaur"
-"Your Love Is My Drug"
-"Tik Tok"
-"We R Who We R"
-"(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" (performed by Santa guy)
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