Willie Nelson, Missy Elliott and others are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
The 2023 inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame include Willie Nelson, Missy Elliott, Sheryl Crow, George Michael and Rage Against the Machine.
When Missy Elliott burst on the scene 27 years ago, she was rightly hailed as the future of hip-hop as the genre headed into the new millennium.
So it makes some strange sense that the future is here, where the groundbreaking rapper has finally decided to embark on her first-ever headlining concert tour, a summer spree that brought her to Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.
The wait was worth it: In a spirited show that never stopped to catch his breath, Elliott delivered one of the most colorful and exciting concerts of the summer of 2024. It was part science fiction spectacle, part hit parade, part weekend kick-off party.
Wearing her trademark infectious grin for much of the evening, Elliott led a two-dozen-strong troupe of background dancers and performers as she spotlighted the hugely influential body of work she created in the wild years following 1997.
Her stage entrance – descending from a Funkadelic-style mothership in a glittery spacesuit and platform sneakers – set the tone for the evening. A series of scene shots, enhanced by a video backdrop, took Elliott from space, to the sea, beneath the streets and – as she got to “Pass That Dutch” toward the end of the show – into the middle of a cornfield with a flying saucer overhead.
The approach was conceptual but never complacent. The 53-year-old rapper focused on the fun in her show, which was sleek and fast-paced, using abbreviated versions of songs to cram more than two dozen numbers into 70 minutes.
Elliott’s crooning flow rode over rippling beats and darting synths, backed by a live band operating behind the stage’s video screen. Her ever-changing costumes were delightfully over-the-top; the apocalyptic black raincoat she donned for “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” was perhaps the most understated of all.
In addition to reliable energy providers like “Get Ur Freak On” and “Work It,” which saw Elliott romp around the arena in her Day-Glo outfit, the songs were treated to a rich palette of colors, from the graffiti-infused fluorescence of “Ching-a-Ling” to the neon-like iciness of “DripDemeanor,” one of the few songs from her final years.
For all its spectacular production and hit-packed setlist, the Out of This World Tour is also about reaffirming what Elliott stands for as a groundbreaking rapper and producer, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the first woman in hip hop to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
And so Thursday’s show oozed a joyful and celebratory energy, and an evening that could have been marked by simple nostalgia received an injection of fresh, industrious creativity.
The set reached its climax when Elliott welcomed back her opening acts to close out the evening with a festive family vibe: Prime collaborator Timbaland performed “Up Jumps da Boogie,” Busta Rhymes performed “Touch It,” and Ciara performed “Lose Control,” which closed the show.
The LCA concert was Elliott’s most significant Detroit appearance since opening for Eminem at Ford Field in 2003, when he made his debut at his hometown stadium. As the crowd cheered, she noted Thursday that she was in town for the first time to see Aaliyah, the Detroit singer whose 1996 album, “One in a Million,” featured major contributions from Timbaland and the then-little-known Elliott.
Elliott’s LCA show took place during the final week of the tour, which includes three dates in Canada and a final two-night appearance in Chicago.
Contact music writer Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press: 313-223-4450 or [email protected].
