Post by Carina on Jan 13, 2006 1:46:51 GMT -5
Duff has the stuff
By MIKE ROSS -- Edmonton Sun
EDMONTON - I reckon that in about four years, my four-year-old daughter is going to be into whatever has replaced Hilary Duff.
At this rate, I'm beginning to think it will be Hilary Duff.
As the teen queen of all media put it herself during her glitzy display of wholesome, supercharged pop at Rexall Place last night, "Oh my gosh, there are so many people here I can't even believe it! I think it's the same amount of people as the last time I played Edmonton, if it's not more."
It's more, I think - 13,500 screaming, glowstick-waving fans and their parents. So many mini-vans, no place to park. A great deal of "merch" was sold. There were even commercials before the show. This 18-year-old girl gets paid every way she can.
But she works hard for her money. Warts and wrinkles seen in Duff's last concert here almost exactly a year ago seem to have been ironed out. Whether there was lip-synching or guide tracks or whatever smoke and mirrors they came up with, the presentation was almost flawless. There were lasers, a giant video screen, three hunky male dancers. There's a bit more new material than last time, chiefly the opener Wake Up from the Most Wanted hits set, a peppy song dealing with empowerment and independence - through the symbolism of putting on one's makeup on a Saturday night, and that there's something going on wherever you are, whether that be Hollywood or Tokyo or New York. It's a running theme in Hilary's material. Later came a song called I Am, urging youngsters to proclaim, "I am special, I am beautiful, I am wonderful, powerful, unstoppable," though not all the time, but that's OK, too. Also there are songs about boyfriend problems, which one would hope flies straight over the heads of her eight-year-old fans.
The show was a complete circus of bombast, of course, over the top in as many ways as you can imagine. Every song was a show-stopper. Hilary was as effervescent as the soft drinks she endorses. It was the musical equivalent of Disneyland.
Who can predict if she can keep this up? Four years is a long time. Hell, one year is an eon in the world of the teen pop star. One day you're da bomb, the next day you're so yesterday. Or in rehab. If only Hilary can break the curse of short-lived careers that afflicts so many of her pop tart peers, perhaps I, too, may one day experience that Duffian moment of bonding with my daughter at the annual Hilary concert in 2010. Then she can say, "You saw Hilary on the Most Wanted tour? Boy, are you old."
By MIKE ROSS -- Edmonton Sun
EDMONTON - I reckon that in about four years, my four-year-old daughter is going to be into whatever has replaced Hilary Duff.
At this rate, I'm beginning to think it will be Hilary Duff.
As the teen queen of all media put it herself during her glitzy display of wholesome, supercharged pop at Rexall Place last night, "Oh my gosh, there are so many people here I can't even believe it! I think it's the same amount of people as the last time I played Edmonton, if it's not more."
It's more, I think - 13,500 screaming, glowstick-waving fans and their parents. So many mini-vans, no place to park. A great deal of "merch" was sold. There were even commercials before the show. This 18-year-old girl gets paid every way she can.
But she works hard for her money. Warts and wrinkles seen in Duff's last concert here almost exactly a year ago seem to have been ironed out. Whether there was lip-synching or guide tracks or whatever smoke and mirrors they came up with, the presentation was almost flawless. There were lasers, a giant video screen, three hunky male dancers. There's a bit more new material than last time, chiefly the opener Wake Up from the Most Wanted hits set, a peppy song dealing with empowerment and independence - through the symbolism of putting on one's makeup on a Saturday night, and that there's something going on wherever you are, whether that be Hollywood or Tokyo or New York. It's a running theme in Hilary's material. Later came a song called I Am, urging youngsters to proclaim, "I am special, I am beautiful, I am wonderful, powerful, unstoppable," though not all the time, but that's OK, too. Also there are songs about boyfriend problems, which one would hope flies straight over the heads of her eight-year-old fans.
The show was a complete circus of bombast, of course, over the top in as many ways as you can imagine. Every song was a show-stopper. Hilary was as effervescent as the soft drinks she endorses. It was the musical equivalent of Disneyland.
Who can predict if she can keep this up? Four years is a long time. Hell, one year is an eon in the world of the teen pop star. One day you're da bomb, the next day you're so yesterday. Or in rehab. If only Hilary can break the curse of short-lived careers that afflicts so many of her pop tart peers, perhaps I, too, may one day experience that Duffian moment of bonding with my daughter at the annual Hilary concert in 2010. Then she can say, "You saw Hilary on the Most Wanted tour? Boy, are you old."