Black Eyed Peas

with Special Guests: Sean Kingston, T-Pain and Cee Lo Green

Sun Life Stadium
Miami, FL
November 23, 2011

Review and Photos by Anthony Cave

BEP

       The “E.N.D.” took too long. The final show for the Black Eyed Peas’ 2011 tour, before their self-imposed hiatus, became a “let's make some noise” waiting game. Allow me to explain.

       I had hopes of this concert being a mini Y100 Jingle Ball – the best three to four songs from an opening artist before a dynamic main act. However, that was not the case, at least for the artists before BEP.

       The first act, Jordan Hollywood (I didn’t know who he was either), was one and done, literally. His only song, filled with choice rap words including “alcohol” and “drugs,” sounded like Kevin Federline’s debut single “Lose Control” – enough said.

Sean Kingston

Between artists, DJ Smiley told the crowd to “put their drinks up,” like he did not know there were kids in the audience. All he seemed to shout was “make some noise for (insert artist name here)” repeatedly. It didn’t help that the artists took about an average of 30-45 minutes to get on stage.

Up next was Sean Kingston, who seemed to have recovered nicely after a near-fatal jet-ski accident earlier this year. For the songs he did sing, which included “Dutty Love,” “Beautiful Girls” and “Fire Burning,” he had the sellout crowd rocking. However, most of his performance involved the studio song blasting while he held the microphone in the direction of the crowd.

T-Pain

       Having shot photos from the pit, I heard the muttered criticisms of an unhappy crowd behind me. Looking back, I’d be furious if I paid $400 for a V.I.P. ticket too; it was a dire cry for help. Luckily, some reinforcement talent arrived.

       T-Pain, all by himself and sans auto tune, did his thing. Performing his hits “Buy U A Drank,” “5 A.M.” and “Get Low,” he rejuvenated the crowd. He also sang his verses of “All of the Above,” “Blame It” and “Hey Baby.” A clever on-the-spot rhyme directed at the haters of his auto tune followed and then he walked off the stage.

       Thankfully, DJ Smiley didn't introduce Cee Lo Green.

Trick Daddy & Cee Lo Green

Queen Latifah introduced Cee Lo Green, who did the same thing as Sean Kingston, but sung a little more. He had some help from Florida native Trick Daddy as well as the Queen herself before he went into “Forget You,” while the crowd shouted the dirty version (“F**k You”).

Jason Derulo followed. Personally I think he sounds better on the radio, but with the open-air stadium, I gave him the benefit of the doubt on his hits “It Girl,” “Watcha Say” and “Don’t Wanna Go Home.”

BEP

       Following Derulo there was more club music and two not well dressed dancers— manifestations of the “let's make some noise” mentality I discussed earlier. The Peas took about 50 minutes to get onstage, as the proper equipment had to be installed.

       However, it was worth the wait.

       They opened with “Rock That Body,” which sounded perfect — probably because they had the right equipment. The shimmering mirror attire made it a little difficult to take pictures, but the stage itself was rock solid in appearance.

Fergie

       “Meet Me Halfway” and “Just Can’t Get Enough” followed. It took almost forever, but BEP rocked out after that.

       There were some kinks, however, like breaks in-between, which lead to another DJ set, but song-wise, the Black Eyed Peas did not disappoint. The heartfelt goodbye words to the crowd had a mixed reception, but settled well after the final three songs.

       After “Boom Boom Pow” and “The Time,” the shock and awe value sunk in, with “I Gotta Feeling,” sending happy Miamians back into the holiday traffic, as the "E.N.D" was a great beginning to the Thanksgiving weekend.

Check out our previous coverage of Black Eyed Peas here

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