Jay-Z House Of Blues Concert

So ya girl went to the Jay-Z concert last night at the House of Blues on the infamous Sunset Strip in Hollywood, CA. For starters, let me announce that I will never ever again go to that tiny venue to see a major artist such as Jay-Z. I think that it was over sold because I've been to sold out shows at the House of Blues and it has never been that crowded. I was waiting for a stampede at any minute. The place was packed!

My friend and I get inside and ironically end up standing by a couple who were in line a week before with me at ticketmaster. They were unable to get tickets then and instead got them online for twice the price! And on the other side of me was a customer from my job that I'd assisted not too long before. lol Doors opened at 8 and the show was scheduled to start at 9 but the Jiggaman did not come out til about 10:30. So in the meantime, people were getting their Jesus Juice on in a major way. This caused many of them to think they could squeeze their way in front of me. hahhahaha, I'm still laughing at those attempts. They had great music playing (I guess that was his opening act) but the drunken folks were becoming an annoyance and I was glad when the show finally opened.

So the curtain finally arises and my my my what do we have, a live band!! I was hoping he would because his Unplugged CD is one of my favorites and on The Jay-Z and Friends tour he used a live band that just made his performance that much more live! Once Jay-Z came out, I forgot all about the annoying people that were getting on my nerves a few seconds previously.

He opened with "Pray" from his new CD "American Gangster" that was released yesterday. He had a few special guests, but I was shocked that Memp Bleek didn't hype the whole show with him like normal. Jay-Z did the show for dolo. He did the best of the best off the new CD such as "No Hook", "Roc Boys" (he closed with this right after "Encore"), "Blue Magic" ( I thought Pharrell's sexy self would be there for his part umph), "Ignorant Sh*t", "Say Hello", and few oldies but goodies. I was glad that he did some of his unreleased fan favorites such as "Hovi Baby" (sounds great when you, "give the drummer some"), "You Don't Know", "Excuse Me" remix aka jay-z always smoking that la la la. Some of his released popular hits performed were "Encore" (he brought out Diddy and Jermaine Dupri for this, why? I don't know), "Show Me What You Got" (also good when you, "give the drummer some"), "Give It To Me", "Dirt Off Your Shuolders", "Big Pimpin" and others. He brought out The Roc Boys, Memph Bleek, Beenie, and Freeway for "What We Do", "Roc The Mic", and "Change The Game". All in all it was a terrific concert!!! Everybody left looking like they just left the gym with sweaty faces and shirts. We even spotted a few celebs getting their parlay on. Jay-Z sounds exactly the same, not all outta breath like a lot of rappers. Hopefully next time he'll come to The Staples Center!!