Dressed in a silver suit that made him look like a cyborg, Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am stopped the music just long enough to ask the panting crowd, “Can you hear my dream?”
At Madison Square Garden Wednesday, in a show that visually tossed the audience off balance with a nonstop barrage of laser lighting, upbeat party songs and three-ring action, we heard what he saw.
Flanked by the Mohawked Apl.de.ap, lanky Taboo and sexy Fergie, who showed off her “humps and lovely lady lumps” (her words, not mine) in glamazon costumes, Will led a show that was as much about the music as the spectacle.
Love or hate this band, you’ve got to respect any act that can make the concrete bounce to the beat of their fans’ devotion. Like Aerosmith, the Stones and The Who, the Peas have joined the roster of those who’ve literally rocked the Garden.
Tunes like “Pump It,” “I Got a Feeling,” “Imma Be” and the above-mentioned “My Humps” — dance-pop fluff for sure — kept repetition at bay with a clever blend of rock and rap. There were also dance rave moments, when Will put on his deejay hat and worked classics like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams” into the set with a mike and a pair of turntables.
Opening-act Ludacris may have pleased hard-core rap fans more, but Will showed a sharp mind and nimble tongue when he freestyled, using words and phrases supplied by audience texts projected on a giant video screen.
The band may not have the musical depth of a dance-pop great like Madonna, but the Peas did project a fun party attitude in a visually stunning production. There was even a wholesome sexiness that never crossed the line into Gaga-lewd. In short, this was one of the top boom-boom-pow concerts to play the Garden in months.