First the facts: Kelly Rowland has a fantastic voice, she dances like liquid, and she’s irrefutably hot-to-trot. It’s not too often a Destiny Child drops into town, so when Kelly Rowland made her solo debut in Dublin earlier this month the atmosphere was ripe with anticipation. With three smash hits under her sequined belt, an entourage of six brawny male dancers and a Vicar St. packed with adoring girls, failure was virtually impossible. She played strictly by the rules – crowd sing-a-longs, mock humility, and a declaration of her infinite love for “Dublin, Ireland”. She even plucked an Irish flag from the audience and let it fly dramatically above her head in front of the stage fan. She assured us that we were “the best audience ever”.
But unless Leaving Audiences Gaping At Watches has become the new rule of thumb for the R’n’B diva, Kelly’s performance – clocking in at just under 45 minutes – simply did not cut it. With a set that took in several costume changes and fewer songs, Kelly clearly does not have enough material to be selling €36 tickets on herself. With that she threw in two Bee Gees covers and ‘Bootylicious’ to boot. What she managed was good, but ultimately overshadowed by a hasty exit from the stage with little more than a parting wave. No encore, not even a grand costume finale – just a voice over the PA to say “Kelly has left the building”.
The sad reality was that most of the punters – many of whom were underage – had spent longer that night applying make-up than Kelly did with a mic in hand. Let’s hope that Beyoncé shows her sista how it’s done, when she takes on The Point in November.