Toronto was the only Canadian stop on Rihanna’s “surprise” 777 tour, promoting her new album Unapologetic. The tour has the pop star travelling to seven cities in North America and Europe over seven days to perform secret, unticketed shows in small venues.
In Toronto, the intimate concert took place at the Danforth Music Hall on Nov. 15. The 1,500-capacity venue was actually kept secret until yesterday morning, when Rihanna tweeted the location after breezing into town from the first night in Mexico City. Fans lined up for wristbands and entry.
The intent behind putting a world-famous, arena-filling performer like Rihanna on a relatively tiny stage is quite transparent: to create a black-out public narrative before the Monday release of Unapologetic. Adding to the incredulousness of the whole thing, Rih was travelling with a deeper than usual entourage: a gaggle of assistants and roadies, as well as 200 journalists, lucky fan club members and contest winners.
The move toward exclusive junkets and record release events has been resurgent for some time now — recall Kanye West and Jay-Z’s exclusive Watch the Throne listening party in the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History — but this tour seemed to harken back to a now mythic time in the music industry, when junkets were opulent and music scribes lived jet-set lives. Except now it's sponsors, not just labels, who foot the bill.
But despite the fact that it was a heavily corporate spectacle — one fan walked away with a branded smartphone, which Rihanna personally handed over — there was a generous, convivial, party vibe to the night. The small stage was perfect: instead of mechanistic, group choreography, Rihanna slunk around her band (including guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, from '90s rock band Extreme!) in a white cropped bra-top, clear-frame Lennon-style sunglasses and baggy pants.
The hour-long show was mostly hits, peaking with Talk That Talk’s ravey “Where Have You Been,” and included only two new songs: “Diamonds” and “Phresh off the Runway.” (Sadly, Unapologetic’s ballsy, Ginuwine-sampling dubstep song “Jump” didn’t make its live debut.)
Seven albums in, Rihanna’s an industry, but despite the whorl of fame it's really hard not to like someone who seems almost an anti-pop star. Like the girls who go to her shows, she wears camo jackets, Timberland boots and leather bustiers, drinks from red cups, still bumps "Rack City," and has fun singing along to her own songs. And, like cool chicks everywhere, it's really hard not to like her.
Related:
The best and worst lyric videos
Justin Bieber barfs onstage
The '60s to Carly Rae Jepsen: a look into the summer song formula