Chris Brown - Staples Center - October 20, 2011

Timothy Norris

See also
*More photos in Timothy Norris' slideshow "Chris Brown at Staples Center"
*Fuck Guilty Pleasures: Chris Brown Can Do No Wrong

Chris Brown, T-Pain, Bow Wow, Tyga
Staples Center
October 20, 2011

Chris Brown seems much older than 22. Of course, he's been famous since he was 16, has a couple double platinum albums, and -- with Usher more or less abdicating the position -- shoulders the weight of being the only real candidate to fill the void Michael Jackson left. But the assault of Rihanna changed everything, not least of which how he was perceived in the media.

He alluded to all of that at the beginning of his show last night at Staples Center. A series of magazine covers, interviews, appearances and performances from Brown's career clicked by on a screen behind the stage, too rapidly to even register them all. After all, the tour is named after his latest album, F.A.M.E., which stands for "Forgiving All My Enemies."

Timothy Norris

It's okay if Brown prefers the past to become a blur. If the crowd last night was any indication, his fans only remember the good times. The other meaning of his acronym? "Fans Are My Everything."

After a left-field opening during which one of his dancers ran down from the set's third tier with a torch, CB, in cargo pants and a tank top, grinned. "It's my first time in the Staples Center. And we done sold this bitch out."

Brown gave them what they came for. He sweated through an incredibly aerobic 90-minute set that culminated in his flying through the air to "Beautiful People" as his backup dancers, dressed in L.E.D. Stormtrooper onesies, became a human light show.

When C. Breezy comes out to play, he intends to win. He is in his sexual prime, and over the past year or two he's started telling secrets about his extracurricular proclivities, though he still croons them as earnestly as his gentle puppy-love letters. During a three-song block that began with the subtle-as-a-tsunami "Wet the Bed," he and his male dancers freaked everything from the floor to the onstage speakers. Eyes glittering, he crawled on top of a female audience member (surprised she didn't keel over from the sheer force of the death stares) and licked her chin.

He's also been devoting more time to hip hop, releasing a free mixtape called Boy in Detention this summer. He lit up when opener Tyga and Kevin McCall came out for "Deuces." As he pounced about and did the Cat Daddy with Bow Wow -- who opened and surprised us by being great as he pogoed around the stage -- you felt you were peeking in on two teenagers goofing off. It was the most unselfconscious he would be all night.