I will admit it, going into Nelly Furtado’s Tuesday night extravaganza at the upscale Rosemont Theater, I was being a little bit negative – partly to disguise my actual appreciation for the singer pushing her Timbaland-assisted third CD, “Loose,” but also because, well, I thought of her as another name on the list of artists who have sold out to go pop in order to ring in extra album sales while maturing materialistic lifestyles.
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Nelly Furtado w/Kenna and Socrates
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 Entertainment
 Art
Rosemont Theatre
Rosemont, Ill.
June 12, 2007
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But quickly, as the all star singer showcased her multi-talented music skills, I changed my opinion, and even began to dance. However, speaking of dancing, one of the real sore spots for the concert was the awful choreography of Furtado’s dancers who had zero moves and were a complete distraction to the show. They were absolutely terrible and added nothing to the show – as did the extravagant stage, costume changes, and shticky kicking and tossing of blow up soccer balls during “Forca”.
If Furtado want’s to be taken seriously as one of the top diva acts, then she should continue to add all of the extra flare, but from the sound of her skills vocally and even musically when she strums a guitar, she doesn’t need all the extras and can be taken as a serious musician. Just perform. Follow the art of her opener Kenna – even though they didn’t have much of an audience for their set. And also, make a point of pushing Timbaland to stay on tour with her instead of some dude named Socrates who could probably host a better act in Vegas as a Lil Jon impersonator.
Furtado handled most of her songs well – despite looking really uncomfortable with less-than-sexy movements while locked in high heels – including a current favorite “Promiscuous”. For “I’m Like a Bird”, she tried to pull off a remix that resulted in mix opinions from the audience and was middle ground with “All Good Things (Come to An End)”.
Just as expected for just about any concert these days – Furtado’s set also included a cover of Gnarl’s Barkley’s “Crazy” and even included the dancers and backup singers signing Justin’s “Sexy Back”. Both were OK, but, I would definitely leave those songs to their original performers.
But again, with little expectations set going into the gig, I was impressed with Furtado’s range as a musician and can applaud her for her live performance that isn’t full of her dancing around while a tape plays her music. She can actually perform live, while adding consistent crowd interaction. I would in fact be willing to see her perform again.
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