Tuesday’s Destiny’s Child show at the Pepsi Center was sugary sweet and coated in sparkly saccharine – incredibly robust and over-the-top, yet insubstantial enough to lose its flavor after just a few key songs.
In other words, it was just how we like it.
The Texas-bred trio isn’t known for substance or even recognized for its combined talent. Beyoncé, Michelle and Kelly put more emphasis on costume changes than harmonies and pay more attention to their obvious and celebrated sex appeal than anything else, including their smoothly segregated/spotlighted solos.
The ultimate goal of the group’s music – on record or in concert, where the group railed Tuesday, packing seven songs into the show’s first 15 minutes – is to feed each of the singer’s legendary egos. And the three goddesses got much love from a smallish crowd Tuesday night.
The girls were at their best with the dance-floor bangers. They started with a lackluster, glammed-out take on “Say My Name,” but it wasn’t until they wrapped that and moved onto a super-charged “Independent Woman, Pt. 1” that the show actually got jumpin’, jumpin’.
The “Charlie’s Angels” soundtrack smash is a nodder, and while it was risky to throw it out so early in the show, it proved wise. It rocked the house and reminded everyone of the group’s occasional crossover relevance.
And then a medley covering “No, No, No, Pt. 2” and “Bug a Boo” reminded them that Destiny’s Child can also be little more than a girl-group unafraid of vocal tracking, punishable dance routines and obnoxious indulgences of the “This side’s louder than that side” and “Let’s bring some gentlemen on stage” variety.
Few surprises were pulled. Beyoncé chews on the stage like Bono – only she’s a true star in the Hollywood sense. Kelly and Michelle take an obvious back seat but make up for it by competing in weird ways. Example: When the girls each brought a man to the stage, Michelle picked Denver Nugget Kenyon Martin, placing his hands on her hips, and Kelly selected another gent whom she pleased (or embarrassed) by pulling his blushing face into her shaking bosom.
The three women were better at owning the ridiculous “Bootylicious” and the fist-pumper “Soldier.” Each took a brief solo spot at mid-show, and while Kelly and Michelle both sounded fine and practiced, it was, not surprisingly, Beyoncé who took down the house with amped- up takes on “Baby Boy” and “Naughty Girl.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
