Chris Brown can sing and he can dance. Too bad the 22-year-old didn't do much of either in a show that lasted little over an hour when he brought his F.A.M.E. tour to Dubai on Friday night.
Sure, Brown sang a little, racing through hits including I Can Transform Ya, Wall to Wall, Deuces, Look at Me Now, With You, All Back, Forever and Run It!. Unfortunately he left it to his on-stage DJ to merely tease the crowd with snippets of some of his biggest hits, such as Kiss Kiss, which had the crowd singing along to every word, and Tonight, which was received equally well.
And yes, Brown danced a little — he even showed off his athletic abilities with a few back flips that drove the thousands-strong crowd wild.
Directionless
But the show lacked the energy fans have come to expect from Brown. The performance felt directionless, it was as if Brown was just doing his thing in front of a crowd that happened to be in front of him. The show lacked momentum, it didn't build up to any climax. Whatever little burst of energy there was, was rendered negligible by the frequent breaks Brown took. Note to Chris: you're an R&B and hip-hop star — leave the innumerable breaks for costume changes and tweaks to the divas.
Brown appeared wearing a black tunic and black pants, his short hair peroxided. There was also a blue jeans, plain white T-shirt and printed jacket combo, a beanie and at least one more jacket before Brown and his dancers took to the stage in slick white suits adorned with LEDs for his final song, Beautiful People.
The false start at the beginning of Brown's concert at Dubai Festival City should have been an indication of things to come. A countdown on the giant screens behind the stage announced the 22-year-old artist would be on in seconds, sending the crowd into a frenzy. But alas, the ticker stopped counting down and the stage went dark again.
Unperturbed, the crowd cheered again when the countdown started again minutes later. The excitement was palpable as thousands counted down with the ticker, following which the short clips from some of Brown's music videos elicited even more noise.
There were the perfunctory shout-outs to Dubai, including Brown saying Dubai has some of the best-looking women he's ever seen.
"I love you so much," Brown told the crowd. "You're all beautiful people."
