The Y100 Jingle Ball
December 15, 2007
The Bank Atlantic Center
School will soon be coming to a brief respite as youngsters gear up for the holiday break. In celebration, every teen and tween in South Florida seemed to have congregated at the Y100 Jingle Ball with parents in tow. Even though school will soon be out, there are still a few lessons that these performers might want to revisit.
Lesson 1: Know what city you're in.
It may have been a while since any of these performers have been in a Geography class, so they might want to take a refresher course. But then again, why would you need to know geography if you make millions of dollars a year? Throughout the night, artists incessantly referred to Ft. Lauderdale as Miami. Timbaland in particular might need to stay after class to brush up on his Geography. After continuously hearing him say that he's happy to be back home in Miami, I couldn't help but wonder why someone didn't tell him that “home” was about 40 miles away. His unnecessary, endless banter between songs leads us to the next lesson.
Lesson 2: Know the basics of public speaking. Reiterate your point up to three times, after that it's overkill.
Timbaland's set consisted of more time spent talking about being home in “Miami” as well as delivering a star-studded infomercial for the albums he's worked on than actually performing. He began his performance with a song that, believe it or not, did not feature any other artist, which also meant that it was a song that I, as well as the rest of the audience, was unfamiliar with. It was followed by guest appearances by Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson and One Republic, whose performances made up for the unfailingly dull performance by Timbaland.
Lesson 3: Paying attention in music class pays off.
In a music industry plagued by singers devoid of talent, Y100 managed to deliver its audience two performers with strong vocal abilty, Elliot Yamin and Natasha Bedingfield. Performing with only one back-up singer and a guitar player, Bedingfield was particularly impressive as her voice resounded in the entire stadium.
Lesson 4: Obtain an ample amount of exercise.
The Plain White Ts performed with predictable pop-punk prowess. With an abundance of jumping and liveliness, the audience mimicked their energy, even though the chorus from their song “Hate” (“I really, really, really don't like you…”) leaves a bit to be desired. Flor-ida transformed the stadium into Club Bank Atlantic, getting most of the audience out of their seats to break it down and inviting three audience members to dance on stage. Sean Kingston kept things interesting by circling the crowd during “Beautiful Girls.”
Lesson 5: Learn the recipe to the perfect performance.
1. Three cups of oldies but goodies
2. Two cups of new songs
3. Add a dash of your biggest hit
4. Mix with rambunctious pogoing
Opening with their song “The Anthem”, Good Charlotte took the stage with the engaging energy I remember from the last time I saw them at the same venue a few years ago. The crowd hung onto every word from past singles and jumped enthusiastically for newer songs. They closed with the crowd-pleaser “Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous.” --Ashley Rousseau
Critic's Notebook:
Random Detail: Celebrity gossip, Perez Hilton hosted the concert.
By the way: Ashley Tisdale was scheduled to perform, but didn't … I'm not complaining.
