Miley Cyrus Concert Review

Memphis, Tennessee (October 21, 2009) - by Joshua Holmes

Several months ago I had an opportunity to buy tickets to a Miley Cyrus concert in Memphis before they went on sale to the general public. I did it very quickly, thinking I would sell the tickets to someone else who really wanted to see the pop princess.

Come to find out it, the concert was what is called a ‘ticketless’ concert.  This is done  to cut down on scalpers. That means that the purchaser has to show up at the event with photo ID and the credit card they used to make the purchase.  Once at the arena they then print you off a slip of paper with your seat locations.

Long story short, that meant that I would be going to the show whether I wanted to or not.  However, I wanted to go and knew I would enjoy it. It is always fun to get a closer view of celebrities, and especially those I have covered daily here on Bumpshack for the past five years.

We parked very close in a parking garage on Union next to the Crêpe Maker. Since we were hungry and they make over 75 different kinds of crêpes we quickly decided this would beat any overpriced arena food.  With such a large selection it was easy for us all to find one to our liking. For me that meant the Tex-Mex crêpe which was so amazingly good.

Upon entering the arena, you couldn’t miss the Wal-Mart banners and kiosks promoting Miley and her clothing line at Wally-World in conjunction with fashion designer Max Azria.  The line is cute and very affordable priced. Props to Miley for not overpricing her fans (in that aspect).

Metro Station was the opening act and they were already half-way into their set when we found our seats, which were on the lower level.  Risers directly in front of the stage and really good seats!  I was impressed by Metro which is fronted by Miley’s older, painted-skeletor looking brother Trace Cyrus.  Miley’s Hannah Montana co-star Mitchel Musso’s older brother Mason Musso is also in the band.

The band first broke through on MySpace with their hit single ‘Seventeen Forever.’  Within the past year they exploded with the chart-topping hit ‘Shake It,’ the song they closed their set with.

As far as opening acts at concerts go, Metro Station was actually really good.  Trace can be too much at times and often comes across as trying to lower his voice with a whispering/fake (might be dying on stage) voice to fit in with the teens.  They do pop rock really well and did a good job warming up a crowd that came soley to see Miley.

The scariest part of their set, was their last song, when Trace took his shirt off, to expose his ink covered skeleton frame.  He went into a rant about how organizers at the start of the tour told him not to take his shirt off, that he would scare the young female fans…which he DID!  He proceeded to say he decided to say screw it and that he would be true to himself.  He then went into a long winded rant about accepting everyone for who they are regardless of their race, sexuality, tattoos, etc.

During the intermission, before Miley appeared, she had fans text her messages, which were then posted on the big screens atop the stage. She would sporadically reply via text to the messages on the board. Each time she did the crowd naturally went nuts.

Miley Cyrus arose up out of the stage within a giant glacier of ice to the shrieks of 18,000 of her fans.  She danced within the ice before it cracked open, and she began her first number.  Her opening was a bit of a let down and didn’t have the big explosive spark that most good concerts usually have.  Luckily, that was not foretelling, as everything that came after her opening number was truly amazing for a 16-year old.

Not being a super nitro-charged teen fan of Miley’s I was not familiar with all of her songs, but I recognized close to a dozen as the night unfolded. I would do her body of work an injustice if I tried to name the songs and order she performed them.

However, here are a few of my highlights and thoughts from the night:

The stage, choreography, and entire production was one of the best I have seen at a live concert.  Miley was constantly surrounded by very experienced dancers that were always covering the stage and creating a great visual spectacle.

At one point there was a 2-minute trailer for her new movie The Last Song about midway through.  The film will be released next summer and stars Miley, Greg Kinnear, Kelly Preston, and Bobby Coleman.

Miley’s - Madonna moment - of the night took place when she came on stage in a wedding type dress with hot pink - knee high socks that was simply slutterific.  She then was raised by a harness from the lighting tower and the ‘virgin-punk’ bride flew high above the audience as her teen fans went absolutely nuts below her.

The most visual grabbing moment took place during ‘Fly’ when Miley and sexy dancer pals jumped on top of what I have called the ‘Fly-Mobile’ and danced, grinded, and gyrated as it moved towards the audience.

Her other high flying event of the night took place when she strattled a red Harley Davidson and throttled the hog, before she went flying above the audience on the hog leaving a cloud of exhaust smoke behind her.  It had to be the ultimate fantasy of every pedophile Hell’s Angels’ undercover biker in attendance.

The surprise guest duo was none other than her brother Trace who reappeared and proceeded to chase Miley around stage as they belted out one of Miley’s harder rocking  joints.

Near the end of her set-list, to the delight of her fans, she came out and rocked to ‘Party In The USA’ as the dancers turned it up a notch and the big screens spastically flashed American flags throughout.

The show for sure had its stripper-esque and ‘just a bit too sexy for young pre-pubescent’ moments. Miles never wore shorts (hot pants) or a dress that came within 12 inches of the top of her knees.  At one point she did a quick pole dance with a orange and white striped rope that had conveniently fallen from the ceiling.  She also had a strip-tease like dance with a construction traffic sign.  I would say the show was PG-13 at best.  But there were thousands of girls under the age of 10, including my 7-year old relative, who came with us and had a good time.

For an encore (aren’t these a requirement and not a spontaneous and special event anymore?) Miley returned to the stage to even more theatrics to sing ‘7 Things’ and she closed the night with her #1 hit ‘The Climb.’

Most pop performers today lip-sync while dancing to a perfect recording of their songs. Miley sang every song, while dancing, and going through over a dozen costume changes.  She worked hard throughout the night during a challenging set that would have done in most of her contemporaries twice her age.  Just remember you can spend twice as much to go see a bloated Britney Spears lip-sync to a soundtrack of her songs or you can spend it on Miley and get an actual ‘live’ performance.

It was an expensive show (nearly $95 a ticket) but worth it.  If your daughter, son, girlfriend or wife is a fan of Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus then the expense will be well worth it.  Everyone in attendance came away impressed and entertained from a rocking night from the most talented 16-year old in the business.

Please leave your comments below if you have seen Miley live and what you thought of her performance.

Miley Cyrus Concert Photos from her Memphis Concert

[all Miley Cyrus images by Joshua Holmes/Bumpshack.com]

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