Hip-hop darling Iggy Azalea drew a large crowd to The Rave’s Eagles Ballroom on Sunday night. Complete with a back-up dance crew, stairs leading up to a platform and a backdrop of multiple video screens, the Australian rapper delivered an unexpectedly short set that barely scraped an hour. Frankly, I can take longer showers than that.
Back in the summer when the show was announced, it sold out within days leading to a change of venue. Judging by the amount of tickets sold, the show was obviously highly anticipated by many.
The crowd consisted of mostly young girls clad in skimpy-looking clothes, but also attracted a good number of guys as well who were probably accompanying their significant others. Even though her stop in Milwaukee fell on a Sunday night, it did not stop the majority of the crowd from getting mildly to extremely intoxicated before and during the show. I would not blame anyone for this, though, because it probably made the show more tolerable.
With only one album, The New Classic, Iggy did not have much to work with. Surprisingly, half of the songs from the album didn’t even make it on the setlist. Instead, she included songs that she’s been featured in. For these songs, she opted for performing snippets of these songs like Steve Aoki’s “Beat Down”, Ariana Grande’s “Problem”, T.I.’s “No Mediocre”, and Jennifer Lopez’s “Booty.”
She opened up with her mantra song “Fuck Love” stating, “I’m already in love with myself” and, “I don’t need your help. I can take care of myself.” Aside from a couple in between song monologues that lasted maybe 30 seconds each, Iggy kept the set going song after song and closed out the night with radio hits like “Black Widow” and “Fancy.”
As soon as she ended her last song and the glitter came down from the rafters, she thanked the crowd and walked off. Many dedicated fans stuck around chanting for an encore, but it did not happen. Although eager to get home on a late Sunday night, I wanted more as well.
Not any more songs though. I wanted more from Iggy herself. She lacked passion in her dance moves as well as in her lyrics she spewed out. Just because you bring back up dancers on tour with you does not mean they do all of the work on stage. For instance, at one point in her set, she stood watching the dancers twerk their butts to the beat.
Overall, the show was good enough to entertain the crowd and give people something to do on a brisk Sunday night in Milwaukee. But the show was definitely not worth the $35 most people paid and upwards of that for VIP seats in the balcony.
I’m sure Iggy will be back in the area in the near future, but hopefully this time in an arena setting and with another album for a another chance to astound her Milwaukee fans.
SETLIST
1. Fuck Love
2. Beat Down (originally Steve Aoki – featured)
3. Bounce
4. My World
5. Rolex
6. Don’t Need Y’all
7. Change Your Life
8. Pussy
9. Murda Bizness
10. Drop That Shit
11. Booty (originally Jennifer Lopez – featured)
12. No Medicore (originally T.I – featured)
13. Problem (originally Ariana Grande – featured)
14. Black Widow
15. Work
16. Fancy