Energy on steroids

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This article was published 18/04/2025 (484 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a very Good Friday for fans of early aughts hip-hop.

Grammy-winning rapper Nelly brought the heat and a crew of musical peers to Canada Life Centre during a local stop on a globetrotting tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of his debut album, Country Grammar.

The show opened, fittingly, with Where the Party At — the scene-setting title track of the tour.

Instead of parachuting into the fray à la the song’s 2001 music video with Jagged Edge, Nelly and his St. Lunatics crew strolled into “Club Derrty,” an onstage nightclub populated by booty-shaking dancers and what seemed like stunned crowd members.

Nelly, who long ago ditched his fashion Band-Aid, took the stage wearing a Winnipeg Jets hoodie. A surprising choice for the St. Louis booster considering the Blues, his hometown team, are set to face off against the Jets during Saturday’s NHL playoff opener. Commenting on his attire, Nelly offered a one-night truce along with some fightin’ words.

The now 50-year-old rapper quickly ascended to mainstream superstardom following the release of Country Grammar, a multi-platinum album full of poppy club hits infused with the artist’s midwestern twang.

He’s since released eight studio albums and recorded many successful crossover hits with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Kelly Rowland and Tim McGraw.

And despite leaning into his country sensibilities recently with the 2021 record Heartland, which features collabs with Florida Georgia Line and Kane Brown, Friday’s sold-out concert lived mostly in 2000s nostalgia. An ideal setting for the strongly millennial audience.

The arena felt like a very loud, very large (and probably now closed) Canad Inns club. The headliners and between-set DJ kept the audience on its feet — dropping it low in the aisles and “cranking dat” to era-specific bangers — for more than three hours.

Nelly and the St. Lunatics blasted through EI, Air Force Ones and Ride Wit Me before taking a brief detour into the 2010s.

The energy was sky high, but the blistering speed of the setlist left the audience in the dust more than a few times. A collective breath here and there would’ve improved the flow. Even the crowd-work felt like it was on fast-forward.

The stage effects were both sparse and distracting, with occasional puffs of smoke and a dizzying light show paired with bone-rattling bass. The supporting AV, featuring clips of old concerts and music videos, was well-produced.

St. Louis contemporary Chingy, 45, kicked the party off with a tight, bouncy solo set full of faux gunshots, cha-chings and high energy tracks, like Right Thurr.

Ja Rule, 48, followed with a skit of sorts, popping out of a twin bed in his boxers and proceeding to get dressed on stage before launching into New York. The growling, frequently shirtless rapper slowed things down for a tribute to fallen hip-hop comrades before disappearing suddenly and, after a choppy transition, re-appearing in the stands wearing a baby blue suit for a lap around the floor while singing Livin’ It Up.

The venue was sufficiently balmy by the time Nelly performed Hot in Herre, a sexually-charged megahit that got the crowd singing along enthusiastically. (Fun Winnipeg connection: the song opens with a quick sample of Neil Young’s There’s a World.)

Nelly descended to the front row to high-five fans during Just a Dream, before leaving the stage for the first time all evening. It was only a brief hiatus, and he was back behind the mic for a super-speed encore of Party People. Phew.

eva.wasney@winnipegfreepress.com