Janet Jackson in Vancouver

So. First off, she literally sang EVERYTHING. You name it? She Sang It. Ok: Opening night of her world tour! Emails out to everyone to make sure that we all show up promptly. Doors at 7pm. Show at 8pm. A DJ was an opening act at 7pm.  She comes on at around 8:15pm, no waiting game!  Crowd goes insane for her. She looks AMAZING.  All in white. Only one outfit change throughout the evening, and it was just the top. On the bottom she wore like white parachute jogging pant type things, with sneakers. Looked GREAT.  

She started the set off with a new song nobody knew but it featured Missy Elliot up on the screen, so everyone was screaming for that and screaming for her, and so it was all good. Then she LAUNCHES into what would become a NON STOP 45 MINUTE MEDLEY of literally all her big dance hits. I'm talking Nasty, Control, What Have You Done For Me Lately, When I Think of You, Miss You Much, Escapade, Love Will Never Do Without You, You Want This, that song she did with Shaggy, The Best Things in Life are Free (WTF!!), All Nite Don't Stop, Feedback, Someone To Call My Lover, All For You, Alright..... and The Pleasure Principle, complete with her up against a mirror and strobe lights going off. Holy F_CK We were losing our GODDAMN MINDS.  

Then.... a famous Janet interlude. Followed by her coming out in the only outfit change of the evening (another white top), and singing a new slow song that was quite lovely. This was obviously going to be the ballads portion of the evening, and she did not disappoint. She followed up the new song with Again, which everyone in the audience sang along to, followed by Come Back To Me, I Get Lonely, and Let's Wait Awhile, topping it off with Got Till It's Gone and Anytime Anyplace which then led right into No Sleeep and THEN into THATS THE WAY LOVE GOES and fade.....

There was more dancey numbers to be had! She was NOT done with us yet. She roared onto the stage with BLACK CAT and THROB of all things, and then came..... IF.  And yes, she brought them. The IF arms. The Asian-inspired karate chop swinging arm dance that everyone does in their bedroom when IF comes on. And she did them, and everyone went N U T S.  This was everything you wanted in a Janet Jackson concert and more. So EPIC. Then she starts singing a weird but good and updated rendition of Together Again, and you're like "Okay, this is a pretty cool version." After the first verse and chorus, she stops and it goes into the regular version and everyone is BALLASTIC and clapping and dancing and singing along and you KNOW everyone's thinking about MICHAEL when she's singing that IN HEAVEN WE WILL BE TOGETHER BABY......

So of course she has to sing SCREAM, right? Check.

It's all too much. I'm sure I've missed some songs here that she did, but she certainly did not miss anything (maybe Runaway and Doesn't Really Matter?)

The finale of this second dance number is of course Rhythm Nation. Which gave me CHILLS. It was like old Janet again. All those dance moves from the video. So on point. Everyone dancing in unison in formation. Oh how we've missed that. And the lyrics. Never more poignant than they are today:

This is the test
No struggle no progress
Lend a hand to help
Your brother do his best
Things are getting worse
We have to make them better
It's time to give a damn
Let's work together come on

People of the world today
Are we looking for a better way of life
We are a part of the rhythm nation
People of the world unite
Strength in numbers we can get it right
One time
We are a part of the rhythm nation 

Seriously. I was in damn near f-cking tears. Was this the end???

There was an encore, but what could she possibly do???

She came back with a brand new song, that may have been titled Should've Known Better but I'm not sure. But it was a perfect bookend to Rhythm Nation. It started off sort of like a ballad, but picks up speed and becomes this anthem. Yes, another socially conscious song from Janet! Images of African American people and the homeless and #blacklivesmatter and #wecantbreathe and Muslims all adorn the screen. This song was epic and NEEDS to be a single and yes, there is no better time for it than now.

Wow.

There was another new song after that I don't remember and she introduced the band and the dancers and then spoke to the crowd. This was the quintessential Janet moment, you know where she stands there and takes in the applause and thanks you the fans and has a moment where she cries. It might be rehearsed and contrived since she does this during every single tour, but this was opening night, and she said to the crowd, "Thank you all so much for all your support from me and my entire family."  Loaded words. Tears in her eyes. Seemed like the real deal tonight. Everyone was thinking it again: MICHAEL.

With that, she bid everyone goodnight and was off.... no big final number to send us into the night, just a lovely thank you for coming and being amazing and genuine gratitude.

Thank you Janet for opening your tour here in Vancouver, we love you, and we can't wait for the new album to drop! 

Please forgive my crappy photos - I was up in the nosebleeds but it was epic nonetheless!

#UnbreakableWorldTour #UnbreakableVancouver