Rihanna is a dream girl.
At Madison Square Garden last night, the sexy Barbadian hip-pop star played an elaborately staged concert that was designed to take us into her dreams and nightmares.
OK, we might not have figured that out without the video at the show’s start. The not-so-subtle film clip informed all that “when Rihanna sleeps, her dreams become real.”
This sold-out MSG show may have been Rihanna’s dream, but nobody snoozed or even yawned during the 100-minute performance.
SEE RIHANNA IN ACTION AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN (PHOTOS)
The singer kept the set lively with fireworks, an arsenal of gun props and a program that wove together the bubbly dance pop and the harder rock-flavored material featured on her recent “Rated R” record.
Despite the big arena, she established intimacy with a multiplatform stage that extended midway onto the Garden’s floor. It allowed her to do the show as if it were an in-the-round production.
It also gave everyone a better view of her costumes. Some had built-in lighting; there was a skimpy latex fetish-wear piece; and even a body suit that appeared to be made of loosely woven white ribbons.
Rihanna looked great and strutted with the swagger of a ringmaster, but she isn’t the greatest dancer.
She makes up for that by actually singing onstage, rather than depending on prerecorded vocals. She left the heavy-load dancing to her backup troupers, who were in a whirl around her during songs like “Rude Boy” and the disco-inspired “Don’t Stop the Music.”
The night’s most dramatic routine could have been snatched out of the Lady Gaga “Monster Ball” playbook, where feathered, demon-costumed dancers on stilts made the moody rock song “Disturbia” seem evil.
For those who dig Rihanna for her fast and frantic material, like “Shut Up and Drive” and “Rockstar 101,” two of this show’s best numbers, the power pop ballads presented mid-show, were a little soft. Even so the MSG crowd — very female and very young — voiced no complaints.
In fact, fans seemed to hang on every word during those pieces, especially during the piano-driven ballad “Unfaithful.”
From the show opener, “Russian Roulette,” to the last encore song — her megahit “Umbrella” — Rihanna was electric for a performance that was amped-up and aggressive.
Rihanna returns to New York for a engagement at the Jones Beach Amphitheater on Sunday.