Salt-n-Pepa, Kid 'n' Play, All-4-One, Coolio, Tone Loc, and Young MC (and more) all on the same bill?!

If you listened to The Rob's Radio Show With Kat Mykals anytime over the past month or so, there's a pretty good chance you heard me mention how excited I was for a concert I was getting ready to go to in Nashville.  My girlfriend picked me up an early birthday present and got us a pair of tickets to the "I Love the 90s" concert tour!

 

The tour flier can be misleading.  In fact, that was probably my biggest complaint about the show.  From the look of it, we thought we were getting tickets to a show featuring TEN artists, like Salt-n-Pepa, Vanilla Ice, Kid 'n' Play, Kool Moe Dee, All-4-One, Rob Bass, Coolio, Tone Loc, Young MC, and more.  After we got the tickets, we learned that it's a rotating tour featuring about five or six of the above acts.  However, our Nashville show on Friday May 27th had a pretty solid line-up.

 

We got to see Young MC, Tone Loc, Coolio, All-4-One, Kid 'n' Play, and Salt-n-Pepa.  If you're interested in seeing the show, or just curious to see how some of your favorite one-hit-wonders from the 1990s are holding up today, here is my review from the show:

 

YOUNG MC: I think probably like most people, I only really know one Young MC song.  He got the show started with a short three-song set that was fun and bouncy but didn't leave me wanting more.  He was probably a good choice to get the show started considering who else was on the bill, and when he went into "Bust a Move," the crowd went into a frenzy.  It was the first widely-recognizable song of the night and it felt like that's when the concert unofficially "started."

 

TONE LOC: Next was Tone Loc.  I had actually met Tone a few years ago at Stoney's here in Evansville.  Actually I got to introduce him on stage to the crowd and kick it with him in his dressing room for a little bit.  So I kind of knew what to expect from one of his shows.  Unlike Young MC, I can name TWO Tone Loc songs, so I was pretty excited to hear "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina" live again.  Unlike when he was here in Evansville, he had a friend with him performing on stage who went nameless.

 

COOLIO: My biggest problem with Coolio's set was that I thought it was WAY too early.  Personally, he was the act that I was second-most excited for (WAY more than Kid 'n' Play).  He did about five songs, and honestly I could have handled a few more, like "Too Hot."  He performed "C U When U Get There," which was a lesser-known hit that I LOVE but didn't expect to hear.  He actually had a live saxophonist who was there for this song and a few others, that was a nice touch.  The crowd lost their mind obviously when he wrapped up his killer set with "Gangsta's Paradise."

 

ALL-4-ONE: If you're talking about sheer talent, All-4-One stood out to me as probably the best.  They weren't exactly what I was expecting, but in a good way.  I was expecting a stage show more in line with Boyz II Men, and felt I got one more like the Jackson 5.  They were well-dressed in white suits and had somewhat simple yet memorable light-choreography.  Vocally, they were stellar.  Their set was longer than I expected (I only know them for "I Swear" and "I Can Love You Like That," which they did) and they filled the time with lots of cover songs from other 90s acts like Boyz II Men and Montell Jordan.

 

KID 'N' PLAY: Kid 'n' Play was actually the act I was least excited to see.  Honestly, I kind of missed them I was actually on the somewhat younger end of the spectrum in the audience (I'm 32, so I was very young in their hay-day).  When they started off their set with their only song I could kind of recall, "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody," I was worried I'd be be bored with the remainder of their set.  To be honest, their STAGE SHOW stood out to me as being best.  They GAVE the most of themselves and did more than the other acts.  The moves and danced and had pretty involved choreography that clearly touched all the right nostalgia buttons for their passionate fans.

 

SALT-N-PEPA: Salt-n-Pepa (yes, with DJ Spinderella) were the reason I was here...  I LOVE Salt-n-Pepa!  What stood out most to me was that their show was certainly the most DIFFERENT from all of the previous acts and honestly from any other concert I had ever seen.  I was less musical than I had hoped for and was honestly a lot of spoken word between mega smash hits like "Shoop" and "Whatta Man."  I could have lived with a less conversation a little more Very Necessary, but they invited a LOT of fans on stage for what they called "The Salt-n-Pepa Experience."  They also integrated a lot of covers like Guns n' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean."  They wrapped up the show with "Push it" sending the crowd home extremely happy.

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