Fresh Prince closes Cardiff Castle show with a bang, literally
Words: Naomi Sanders
Photos: Coal Poet Media
Photo: Coal Poet Media
★★★★★
With a Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August, Cardiff Castle was the venue of choice for many to celebrate. The sun shining, positive vibes, and everyone dressed for the occasion. Between those dressed for the hip-hop 90s genre, and those arriving in suits and ties as part of the Men In Black, it was evident most in attendance were clamouring for 90s & 00s nostalgia, or wanted to recreate the memes brought forward online in recent years.
Either way, no Artificial Intelligence could fake the crowd drawn by Will Smith this Bank Holiday, ready for all the classics they knew and loved.
Photo: Coal Poet Media
However, first, the warm up and support, which began with BBC Radio 1’s Rickie Haywood-Williams and Melvin Odoom DJ set. Whilst they prepped the crowd accordingly with some hip-hop and RnB classics, such as Fatman Scoop’s ‘Be Faithful’ and Rihanna’s ‘Work’, many of their warm up choices were questionable at best and downright offensive at worst.
For example, including Chris Brown’s ‘Yeah x3’; in addition, the set “tests” for the crowd to see if they were ready for the headliner with known crowd favourites like ‘Mr Brightside’ by The Killers and ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis, finishing up with Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline’, which essentially came across as cheap wins in an attempt to get the crowd on their side over playing music relevant to the evenings proceedings. As performers, Melvin mostly interacted with the crowd more than Rickie, who was focused on the music, and just left the atmosphere a little flat. Not the best start to the show.
With main support from Nile Rogers & Chic, the atmosphere was definitely lifted by the funk and disco that got everyone moving and smiling with ease. Not only did they perform classic Chic songs like ‘Good Times’ and ‘Le Freak’, but the band also performed songs that Nile Rogers wrote and produced for other artists. For example, they performed David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’, Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’ and ‘Material Girl’, and Daft Punk’s ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’ and ‘Get Lucky’. These work as Nile Rogers had a hand in these successful songs, accompanying the tracks with stories about creating them, which added lightheartedness and welcoming vibe to the whole set.
Overall, Nile Rogers & Chic delivered a masterful set that showcased fun and good times throughout the whole performance that left everyone, audience and performers, with a smile on their face.
Photo: Coal Poet Media
Finally, the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith took to the stage after an admittedly overly long introduction, stating himself as an actor, a rapper and an icon, before taking to the stage to begin the first song, ‘Get Jiggy With It’, immediately starting his set with a bang.
Amongst the classics everyone expected, he seemed to hype up the goofy and friendly persona many have known him for since his beginnings in music. This is shown not only in bringing a child up onto the stage to have a picture with, but also gathering the audience to sing the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ theme not once, but TWICE! Having admitted that this was his first time performing in the Welsh Capital, it was impressive to see how he got on with the audience, even if it wasn’t what he expected, evidently at some points. However, there were tender moments, like a tribute to James Avery as well as Will speaking openly and candidly about the infamous “Oscar Slap”.
As this show, as well as his tour, is supporting his recent album, ‘Based On A True Story’, he really showed all sides of his career, good and bad. Whilst the show felt a bit like “Will Smith’s Nostalgia Party starring Will Smith”, it still felt like a good time all around. In addition, finishing the set with the Grammy winning ‘Summertime’ with fireworks over the Castle is an iconic and momentous way to finish out a Bank Holiday Monday. Overall, whilst the recent album was a flop, Will Smith’s live shows are anything but.