The Sugarland Financial Center was buzzing with anticipation two hours before the sold out Millenium Tour was set to begin. As soon as you walked into the main stage, you were greeted with a crowd full of 80’s and 90’s babies that were beaming with excitement for the Millennium Tour. If you were lucky enough to remember early 2000’s music, you would know why the crowd was abuzz. The stage was lit up with three giant jumbotron screens and multiple spotlights front and center The Millennium Tour ran more like a non-stop festival of all the early 2000’s pioneers in R&B and Hip-Hop/Rap music. The star-studded line-up was definitely a tour you would not want to miss.
Normally, you have a little time to arrive late at most shows but The Millenium Tour started 15 minutes early! 97.9 The Box, led by Kiesha Nicole, Jasmine the Juice, and J-Mac, welcomed everyone to the show and got the crowd amped up for tonight’s first performance alongside tonight’s comedic host Gary “G Thang” Johnson.
First up to perform was Ryah. Ryah was an R&B new-comer on tonight’s line-up. Ryah made her way on stage sparkling with a jeweled up white leather cropped jacket and matching jeweled boots. Ryah was definitely an eye-catching performance. Before performing her first single, “Doing”, Ryah asked the audience “Have you ever been in a relationship and you wonder why the hell you’re in it? This song is about you!” As soon as the music starts the bass drops so heavy you can feel it in your soul. Even as a newcomer, Ryah’s performance was energetic and perfected.If you love modern R&B, Ryah is definitely someone you should keep your eye on.
Nick Lavelle followed Ryah’s set with his newly released single “Bad Bit$h.” Nick Lavelle decided to take his set solo with no dancers or musicians. Just him. Nick Lavelle graced the stage with his crystal clear vocals and high seductive energy towards the ladies. Towards the end of his set Nick Lavelle rips his shirt off to reveal his abs and bright red boxer briefs, as “Pony by Ginuwine” rang through the speakers. Nick Lavelle ended his set by jumping off the stage and while he seductively grinded with some lucky audience members.
Sammie arrived on stage dancing and energetically singing “You Should Be My Girl.” Without missing a beat, the audience gets out of their seats and starts jamming and dancing. Sammie displayed his virtuosity with his super clear vocal runs and had the audience at his fingertips. With the spotlight directly on Sammie, he starts holding a few lucky ladies’ hands and serenades them personally one-on-one. The lucky ladies were swooning after hearing Sammie’s beautiful falsetto. Before finishing his set, Sammie turned off the music and let the audience sing the last line of “Expiration Date.”
“Houston Texas, make some noise for Lloyd!” said Gary Johnson, as Lloyd strides on stage. The audience is greeted with “Girl’s Around The World” and some classic early 2000’s mic-stand choreography. Of course, the crowd went wild as soon as “Bedrock” started blasting through the speakers. Lloyd was straight feeding off the energy the audience was giving off and took a second to just stop, smile, and listen to the audience sing his lyrics. Throughout the set, Lloyd had a couple of special guest-artists including Roscoe Dash and Bobby V. He ended his set by paying his respects to the artists that we have sadly lost with a collage of memorial pictures displayed on the screens.
As “She Make It Clap” begins to play, Soulja Boy, who is no stranger to viral Tik-Tok dances, makes his way on stage fully decked out with a mountain of diamond chains and a diamond encrusted watch. He had the audience under his spell and hypnotized. Each song is known for a specific style of dance that the audience fully memorized the choreography to. “Houston turn the f**k up!” says Soulja Boy as he ended his set with “Crank That”. The audience erupted with excitement as the first three notes of the steel-drum intro began to play. Everyone, and I mean everyone, including security, began to sing along word for word while doing the famous “Crank That Soulja Boy Dance.”
The Ying Yang Twins wasted no time getting on stage after Soulja Boy’s set. Kaine and D-Roc brought the house down! It felt like we were back in the club in 2005! Keeping up with the trend tonight, not a soul was seated for the Ying Yang Twins. Their set began with “Whistle While You Twurk”, which had the audience in a full blown twerking session. Their high energy performance radiated through the crowd. The Ying Yang Twins took zero moments to stop and catch their breath. Hit after hit after hit, “Naggin”, “Wait”, “Ms. New Booty”, “Salt Shaker” just to name a few. The only time they breath was during their last song, “Get Low.” The Ying Yang Twins sang the lyrics “Now Stop (oh), then wiggle with it (Yeah)” it was truly a marvel to see the audience suddenly freeze, become silent, and continue to twerk. The Ying Yang Twins ended their set by singing the last chorus of “Get Low” with the audience in full acapella.
“Make way for the nastiest mothaf***s! Pretty Ricky”Gary Johnson screamed as the trio stepped out on stage in fully coordinated chrome outfits alongside back up dancers with jeweled one piece leotards. Keeping to their namesake, Pretty Ricky’s performance was strictly for the ladies. The first song of course was one of their top hit singles “Grind With Me.” The choreography was reminiscent of their music videos, with the trio dancing seductively. At one point in the performance, Pleasure P pulled out a lounge chair and brought three lucky ladies to lay on the lounge one by one as he sensually grinds over them. It was truly a hot performance. Before ending their set, Pleasure P wanted the ladies to know he is single and ready to mingle!
The audience waited in anticipation as the stage crew took the first 10 minute intermission to set the stage for Ashanti. As the crowd went wild, a golden throne appeared from underground with Ashanti looking like a royal queen. Ashanti’s performance of “Mesmerized” felt otherworldly. Every movement, every note, and every beat was perfectly mastered and had the audience mesmerized from the first beat. Ashanti is clearly a master of her craft. Before Ashanti closed her set with her hit single “Foolish”, she thanked the audience, “Thank you for putting me in Guinness Book of World Records, I’m still there 19 years later! I’m an artist that writes my own records, real life entertainment, that’s why we connect so much because we relate to real things.” The performance ended with Notorious B.I.G’s borrowed “Stay With Me” verse on “Unfoolish” which left the audience with goosebumps and not a dry eye in sight.
Omarion simply needed no introduction. The stage was surrounded with a plethora of “O’s” to signal Omarion’s performance. Still no sight of Omarion, as he began to sing “Let me show you my elevation.” His dancers slowly walked on stage in white hooded cloaks and formed a circle. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an orchestral hit signals Omarion to jump up from underground and onto the stage platform. Omarion appeared with a jeweled out black suit jacket and bright blood red gloves. The Choreography was truly hypnotizing. Omarion and his dancers were like one giant organism moving in synchronicity. Their movements were so perfected that they seemed so easy. Suddenly, the stage was flooded with blue lights as Omarion appeared shirtless and shivering for his performance of “Ice Box” The audience sang along word for word and Omarion took a moment to stop and conduct the audiences’ singing with the biggest cheesy smile emblazoned on his face. Omarion showed nothing but gratitude for his fans as he ended his set holding his hands over his heart “Thank you for allowing me to perform for you”
Without missing a beat, Bow Wow immediately stepped on stage in classic Bow Wow attire: a red Rockets jersey, white basketball shorts with his name front and center with number 87 on the side to signify his birth year. Bow Wow had the audience bouncing with one of his childhood hits “Bounce With Me” while the music video played on screen. Bow Wow needed no dancers, no hype man, no flashing lights just Bow Wow. The energy he carried throughout his performance reverberated across the entire audience. The audience sang along to every song “Basketball”, “Fresh Azimiz”, “Shorty Like Mine” just to name a few. During the performance of “Basketball”, Bow Wow removed his Rockets jersey and threw it into the crowd. Bow Wow’s performance of “Like You” was no exception. Everyone sang word for word, Bow Wow was so impressed with the audience that he mic dropped Ciara’s verse and let the audience sing the entire verse as he watched in awe. Bow Wow and Omarion ended the show together with “Let Me Hold You.” and another video tribute of influential artists including Nipsey Hustle, Juice WRLD, Mac Miller, Kobe and Gianna Bryant, Don Curry, King Von, and others. It was truly beautiful.
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