I was lucky enough to secure a spot in the front row at the sold out Robin Thicke concert in Philadelphia at the run-down Electric Factory on March 20th. Lucky meaning I survived the stampede of grown women that bum rushed the doors. Granted I was one of them, but I truly came for the music. Seriously, his good looks have nothing to do with it. Seriously!

Instead of an opening act, we were entertained by a hidden DJ (mixed CD), and around 9:20 p.m. the show started with ballad, "2 the Sky." Thicke sat at his piano and smiled at the packed house. His band consisted of a guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboard player, who also doubled as hype man and background vocalalist. As he breezed through a few of the new album’s slower cuts like "I Need You," "Can You Believe," and the erotic "Teach You A Lesson," the audience screamed at the sensual moves Thicke did on each side of the stage. At first, the hip movements were cute and a good addition, but then it became just a bit much. I can’t blame him though - part of being an entertainer is playing up to what your fans want.

Sprinkled in between the erogenous songs, he played uptempo tracks including "All Night Long," "Cocaine," and my personal favorites from the new album, "Everything I Can’t Have" and "Ask Myself." The Latin influence in "Everything I Can’t Have" transferred over to the audience, giving people the energy to dance with the little space they had. "Ask Myself" was performed flawlessly.

Although many people became fans with 2006’s The Evolution of Robin Thicke, he didn’t neglect to give longtime fans some of the early stuff from 2003’s unreleased (in America) album, A Beautiful World. Included was the only song to make it on both albums, "Shooter," which had the audience singing every word, including the corny Lil’ Wayne rap. The band busted out the opening chords to the most recognizable hit from that album, "Get You Alone," which samples Beethoven. And after telling the story of messing up with his woman (now wife, beautiful actress, Paula Patton), he flexed his falsetto in "Stupid Things."

As the concert closed out, Thicke did two covers of classic songs - so I was a little scared for him - but they came off lovely. One was MJ’s "Rock With You" and the other was Al Green’s "Let’s Stay Together," the encore for the night.

It was a dope concert - and I say that because throughout the whole 2 hours or so his voice maintained and he kept up his energy; his band was also on point. Thicke often interacted with the audience and played up on his strengths: looking good and knowing how to hit the high notes. I don’t know if my ears can bear being in the front again with all that screaming, but I’d most definitely go to another Thicke concert based on the fact that I had an overall good ass time.


Deesha Dyer is a contributing writer. For more information about her and her work, please point your browser to the links below.

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