NEWSNo Such Thing as a Free Rihanna Concert
Dec. 5 2009, Published 7:54 a.m. ET
Rihanna performed a free concert Thursday night presented by MySpace and JetBlue at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC, but for the 800 fans who waited in line for hour... it was everything but free.
RiRi is definitely loved, that's for sure: Fans waited in a line outside the theater since midnight on Thursday in order to be one of the 800 lucky people to receive a free MySpace ticket to Rihanna's exclusive 7 p.m. concert.
But those fans ended up waiting even longer than the initial 19 hours!
The ticket may have said the show started at 7 p.m., but no one was actually let into the theater until 7:30.
After being pushed around by the huge crowd to get inside, fans were greeted by JetBlue flight attendants handing out bags of chips and a $5 drink special for the night.
With chips and drinks in hand, fans crowded to the front of the stage for the concert, ready to see RiRi perform, but instead, they were entertained by a DJ for the next two hours.
By 9 p.m. the crowd grew restless. Rihanna seems to be making a habit of showing up late to her own events!
At 9:18 p.m. Rihanna finally came on the stage and 34 minutes later, at 9:52 p.m., she left. But for the fans who waited, that was an awesome 34 minutes!
Rihanna's performance line-up included:
1. Mad House
2. Wait Your Turn
3. Don’t Stop the Music
4. Take a Bow
5. Disturbia
6. Hard
7. Live Your Life
8. Run This Town
9. Umbrella
If you're counting, that's only three songs from her new album Rated R. Fans didn't seem disappointed by the selection though because Rihanna definitely knows how to put on a show — even a short one.
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During “Don’t Stop the Music” RiRi walked over to one the male mannequins on set and grabbed his crotch while singing the lyrics, “I’m making my way over to my favorite place, I gotta get my body moving shake the stress away.”
Rihanna even worked in a costume change 15 minutes (halfway) into the show.
The concert concluded with Rihanna's infamous “Umbrella” and showing their love, fans held up opened umbrellas.
Jay-Z really did make a business mistake by not selling Rihanna umbrellas!
Though they waited 21 hours for the 21-year-old to perform, fans were still in full support of Rihanna.
“I think she’s amazing and has a fresh sound," Rihanna's tallest fan said (he wore 7-inch platforms shoes especially for her). "No one is doing what she’s doing.”
Reporting by Brittany Talarico and Nicole Eggenberger
