Chris Brown FINALLY made it to Houston’s Toyota Center on August 17, after a string of cancelled performances in the city, but not without another cancelation scare. Thanks to a judge throwing out a restraining order set in play by a Houston local, the Chris Brown and Lil Baby ‘One of them Ones’ tour was allowed to continue. Ms. LaJuan Bailey filed against Brown for canceling last minute on a Charity event that was set to happen back in March. The benefit was to help those effected by Hurricane Ida. Chris’s team has since claimed Ms. Bailey did not hold up her end of the contract and Chris informed her team his performance would be canceled two days in advance, as required in said contract. Houston has been waiting a long time for this performance and the Toyota Center was packed floor to ceiling Wednesday night, the crowd was pulsing with excitement.
With lights turned blue, the stage filled with smoke as three giant cubes sat elevated in the middle of the stage. Lil Baby came out and the crowd was thrilled! He performed hits such as ‘Eat or Starve’ and 2020’s hit ‘On me’. The rows of chairs packed the floor giving the whole arena a feeling of being at a friend’s house party. Once the dancers joined Lil Baby on stage, their electrifying energy kept the party going all night. Everyone was up dancing and moving, you couldn’t spot a single person still sitting down. He cleared the stage, and everything got calm again but only for a moment.
Chris’s descent down from the ceiling had the crowd screaming as soon as they spotted the artists’ all white pants and all white denim jacket. He floated down to the elevated stage and was quickly joined by dancers dressed as if they came straight out of the 2009 ‘Gimme That’ music video. The fashion that night gave subtle noticeable nods not only to the Texas city, but to Chris’s discography of music videos. Throughout the night the attention would switch focus from the artist on stage to the exceptional dancers that joined them. As much as Chris is known for his dancing, he is also known for choosing the most talented in their profession to be beside him. This Tour proved to be no exception.
It wasn’t long before Chris was showing off his own out-of-this-world dance moves while the dancers went backstage for a costume change. Chris continued the show reminding everyone that he only needs a small room to dance to put on a one man show worth attending every time.
A mix between classic throwbacks like ‘Party’ and even a tease of ‘No air’ were played that night. Chris is an out of the box character and has shared that he loves games, so, for this tour he included this into the set. The passionate and enthusiastic crowd loved the game where they would be picking the next songs. The game was simple, three choices, three chances to choose what song he was going to preform next. Houston was feeling rowdy choosing songs like ‘Poppin’ over ‘No bullshit’. Time stood still while ‘With You’ jaunted through the speakers. A huge, genuine smile could be seen on Chris Brown’s face as he heard the fans sing back to him. It felt like home in the Toyota Center seeing fans sway to the music, arms raised or linked to the person beside them.
It looked like Chris was having the time of his life on the Houston stage. His fancy foot worked had turned into playful steps and leaps. Chris’ incredibly smooth vocals could be heard over the tracks though out the night and never wavered. Enjoying the moment, dripping with sweat, the Singer/Rapper jumped on the speakers to get a better view of the crowd. Before closing out the night Lil Baby came back to the stage to perform ‘Addicted’ off the new Chris Brown Album, Breezy. Lil Baby left the stage and Chris closed the night with the 2020 fan favorite ‘Go Crazy’. Chris rushed backstage for a second to bring out his daughter. She waved Goodnight from her father’s shoulders as all the dancers and performers joined together hand in hand for a bow to say thank you and Goodnight, Houston.
Photographs created by Jamar Carrington
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