Last Night: Ke$ha, LMFAO and Spank Rock at Gexa Energy Pavilion

By Shahryar Rizvi Fri., Aug. 5 2011 at 11:58 AM

Ke$ha, LMFAO, Spank Rock
Gexa Energy Pavilion at Fair Park
August 4, 2011

Better than: trying to get by without water in this climate.

Taryn Walker

K. E. Dollar sign. Ha?

The Gexa Energy Pavilion's stage housed a two-story steel scaffolding with vertical LED light rods and a large diamond in the center. A bit after 9:30 p.m., Ke$ha appeared in the beaming diamond, wearing illuminated shades and a glittery black leotard with ripped fishnet stockings.

She opened with the her tour's titular track "Sleazy." Kesha later donned a chain necklace with a Korg-like synthesizer hanging from it as she stepped down to the stage.

Indeed, Kesha's set contained a number of such stage gags.

First was the Alice Cooper-like gags in "Cannibal," with Kesha taking a bite out of a dripping piece of meat and a dancer getting tied up and replaced with a skeleton. Second was an attendee named Freeman being ushered on stage to get plastic wrapped on a chair; as "Grow A Pear" played, Kesha placed a bra on the guy and a dancer in a tall penis costume "teabagged" the attendee with the outfit's sagging testicles.

Seriously.

From "Pear," Kesha played her hits "Your Love Is My Drug" in a tacky, racoon-looking "spirit hood" and she followed that with "Tik Tok." The crowd peaked on the track as glitter sprayed from launchers at the center of the house and on the stage.

Between the frequent gaps on her lines and concealing her efforts with backup dancers and the the crowd singing along, questions emerged: Can Ke$ha actually sing? Maybe, but not so greatly in this environment.

Still, the basic chords she played in the fleeting moments in which she held a guitar are probably enough for most bands out there, so there's that.

The show's closing "encore included the single "We R Who We R," with Ke$ha and dancers in blacklight-painted leotards (once again) and bright helmets. Then came a cover of the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" with a cheap Santa in a white-shirt and Kesha donning the Texas flag as a cape.

Panderer.

LMFAO opened at 8:10 p.m. with the dance group Quest Crew in white and neon hoodies popping to a cut of printer-jam dubstep, followed by the duo entering the stage and starting up the track "Sorry for Party Rocking." Redfoo appeared to have hearts painted on his arms as Skyblu's hair whipped around through. All tracks in their set included sight gags, much like Kesha: "Put that Ass to Work" saw a couple dancers suggestively working a Shake-weight; "Sexy and I Know It" saw the duo stripping down to speedos; "I'm in Miami, Bitch" saw the duo in touristy-shirts and palm-tree balloons. Keeping up with the group's schlock image, "La La La" had Redfoo playing a Keytar hooked up to a vocoder to catch his voice Peter Frampton-style. The crowed peaked at the new single, "Party Rock Anthem." Because of lack of space on the seated rows, any shuffling was infrequent in the house. LMFAO's set ended with the crowd-pleasing "Shots," marked by a pause and set-ending barrage of movement with the duo and dancers.

Spank Rock warmed up the crowd with a quick mix of verses and tracks that resembled minute-long punk rock tracks.

Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I'm not convinced or impressed by Kesha's Peaches-Lite image. In my column "The Problem With..." I've characterized Ke$ha as a malicious Joker-like figure out to destroy music. Some people just want to watch the world blo-o-o-o-o-o o-ow.

Random Note: For all the talk about individuality, a lot of fans showed up with Ke$ha's blue lipstick, teardrop paint and spirit hoods. For shame, kids!

By the Way: After seeing her from afar, I gotta say that Ke$ha looks better with Steve Buscemi eyes.

Location Info

Venue

Map

Gexa Energy Pavilion

1818 First Ave., Dallas, TX

Category: Music

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Gexa Energy Pavilion, Ke$ha, last night, LMFAO, show review, Spank Rock

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Jeremy

I've been to hundreds of concerts ranging from old school Black Sabbath to, Beck, Phish, Owl City and well... Ke$ha. Best concert ever? Certainly not, but LMFAO and Ke$ha both blew the socks off Tom Petty in the performance arena in the same (or worse) summer heat. It's a shame that your obvious (and noted) bias against Ke$ha colored your review so much. I expect more.

Pedro4thevote

Excuse me. In contrast to your opinion the concert was amazing, it was a blast. Spank Rock did a great opening despite the not so excited reaction from the crowds. LMFAO's performance was a party rock dream come true. The crowds reaction was intense! People were screaming to the top of their lungs and despite the limited amount of space given to those who werent in the pit (like myself) the majority of the crowd was dancing. Ke$ha's enterance is best explain as a cry of admiration. The whole pavilion shaked with the sounds of screaming fans and hard bass. Her performance and acts were amazing, comical, and worthy to all the fans present there. In your opinion of "Individuality" many people did what many people do at concerts, they dress up as the artist present. Those present decided to unleash their inner "Animal" in the image of their Dance Commander, Ke$ha. I myself didnt dress up in glitter and the such, but believe me I was dressed up for the event, and I would have placed glitter on every point of my body if i didnt forget it. For the record Ke$ha isnt bent on destroying music, on the contray music is the very thing she lives for, and unlike most artists of the day, all her songs are completly written or co-written by her. Yet like every concert nothing is perfect and the only imperfection there was the heat, but who could help it if there were hundereds of people dancing, right?