Last Night: Chris Brown & Friends At The Woodlands

Photos by Marco Torres

Chris Brown, T-Pain, Tyga, Bow Wow
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
October 16, 2011

"I work too hard to be ballin on a budget" proclaimed Chris Brown as he stood atop of the massive stage when his F.A.M.E. tour stopped into The Woodlands Sunday night. The production level of this concert was certainly over the top and expensive, with lasers, a live band, acrobatic dancers, and big screens galore. Very MTV VMA-esque.

Yet none of that distracted his fans from the real Chris Brown show, the one where he sang and danced harder than any other artist Aftermath has seen live this year.

Brown's F.A.M.E. album was released back in March, and has produced several hit singles, including "Deuces," "Yeah 3X" and "Look At Me Now." The album, as well as his live show, is a confident mix of electro-dance numbers, hip-hop tracks, and sexy love ballads. The acronym "F.A.M.E." is short for "Fans Are My Everything" and also "Forgiving All My Enemies." It certainly seems that his fans have forgiven him for his past indiscretions.

L-R: Bow Wow and Tyga

Opening the show were a pair of young rappers from the YMCMB set (Lil Wayne's crew). The first was newcomer Tyga, who resembled a mini-Wiz Khalifa with his tattoos, shades, and snapback.

He definitely embodies the Young Money swag, with the gold chains and a determined flow. The other young rapper, not quite a newcomer, dropped his first album at 13 years old. Bow Wow, now 24, seems to have a renewed energy after signing with Cash Money, and his new album Underrated is set to drop next month.

Next up was T-Pain (right), who delivered what was basically a mixtape of all of the songs he has ever been featured on, with hits like "Bartender" and "Buy You a Drank" leading the way. The "rapper ternt sanga" is notorious for this use of Auto-Tune, but his live shows are much more natural.

Aftermath was very surprised how well he actually sings without the crutch of voice-modification software. He also danced quite well for a man his size.

Brown emerged onto the stage dressed in camouflage and combat boots, and immediately went to work - poppin', breaking, and even krumping to "I Can Transform Ya" and "Wall To Wall." He slowed down just enough to serenade his fans with "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)," and then introduced a new Swizz Beats-produced track called "Dance Like a White Girl," which turned out to be extremely popular among The Woodlands' demographic.

The Pavilion erupted when Brown took off his shirt, revealing a chest plate and sleeves full of tattoos. A bed was introduced onstage, and a lucky (we guess) young lady became his object of desire for "Wet the Bed." This was our second concert in a row where the headliner practically makes love to a fan onstage. Kids these days...