Product: Janet: The Velvet Rope (1998)
Rating: 2.0
Rip-off of Madonna's Girlie Show Tour (2 and a half stars)
ok, first off, i am a janet fan (not hardcore, but casual)but this concert is such a rip off of Madonna's Girlie Show! The circus, clowns, strippers, masquerade masks, velvet curtains, top hats, women in suits and ties, dark lighting, it was all done in 1993 by Madonna. I do give Janet credit for choosing many of her hits to be in this show. HOWEVER, her songs do not have the same energy when they are performed live as the studio recordings do. For example, her performance of If is so lackluster musically, and it shouldn't have been. That song has so much energy in it, but here it kind of falls flat. Her performace of LEt's WAit Awhile and Again though, was fantastic. very beautiful. the only thing that bothered me was at the end of that perforamce when she took about 10 minutes before she sang the final line of the song. I was like "finish the damn song already!". I was really looking forward to the Throb segment but was really disappointed. I know the song has very few vocal lines to begin with, but Janet barely even tried to sing THOSE! seems llike she was just there while music played. ALSO, WHY DID THE DANCERS HAVE MORE COSTUME CHANGES THAN JANET??? Hellooo. Janet wore the same outfit for the first 40 minutes of the concert while the dancers had at least 4 costume changes. JAnet finally changes clothes for the Escapade medly, but then CHANGES BACK INTO THE COSTUME SHE WAS WEARING FOR THE FIRST SEGMENT! That white collar shirt and black slacks...I've never seen an artist do this before.Some of the songs are awkwardly placed. Special after Rhythm NAtion is weird...why is she wearing her militant gear for a soft song like Special while pictures of her childhood flash on a screen. it also made me mad when she didn't sing ANY of the choruses for That's The Way Love Goes but instead had the audience sing it. helllo, janet, helllooo! Also, Any Time Any Place is just an instrumental not the whole song, that pissed me off too. The HIGHLIGHT of the show was Rope Burn when she brings that guy onto the stage, that was funny! He was so excited. Poor guy, he probably almost had a heart attack when Janet kissed him.Anyway, this concert is enjoyable to some extent, i did fast forward thru some parts like Alright, I've never really liked that song. Together Again was pretty weak as well, although i do like the song. Worth viewing once, but pretty forgettable.