Though Mark Morrison is riding high on the charts singing “Return of the Mack,” it was Keith Sweat who exuded the song’s ladies’ man aura at the United Center Thursday night when he headlined the five-act Jamizon tour.
Amid what he dubbed a “sweat shop,” a jamming R&B band, fierce dancers, rappers and backup singers set against a spectacular stage, Sweat appeared in true Don Juan splendor — decked out in a hat and all-black ensemble.
During the late ’80s, Sweat exploded on the music scene along with a throng of smooth-talking-and-walking R&B crooners who declared themselves members of the New Jack movement. Teddy Riley and Guy, Al B. Sure! and Bell Biv Devoe were the pioneers of this hybrid of R&B and hip-hop, but what set Sweat apart was his incessant “begging” style.
His nonstop, honey-drip pleading in songs like “I Want Her” and “Make it Last Forever” shot him to the top of the charts, but at the United Center, that trademark moaning was drowned out by the heavy bass riffs and drum beats.
Yet Sweat put on a dynamic performance; he gyrated and danced in synchronization with his swift dancers during his heartfelt rendition of Slave’s timeless dance classic “Just A Touch.” He grinded and growled during his tender duet with Kut Klose’s Athena Cage on the sultry “Nobody.”
But the highlight came when another notorious love-ballad man made a cameo during Sweat’s steamy staple, “How Deep is Your Love.” R. Kelly, supposedly straying from secular music, reignited his brazenly sexual “Downlow,” trading verses with Sweat in an erotically charged duet.
Also on the bill, newcomer Mark Morrison, resembling a mixture of Flavor Flav, Bobby Brown and Shabba Ranks, stormed the stage spewing obscenities in his British accent and only sang one song, the chart-topping “Return of the Mack.”
The female acts, SWV, Brownstone and Shades, all used precorded, error-prone backing tracks with heavy bass, which overshadowed their voices and took the spunk out of their performances.
Former basketball star Magic Johnson, who organized the concert, rescued Brownstone’s lukewarm performance by celebrating his birthday onstage with them. They sang the birthday song for him and incorporated one of their hit songs, the uptempo “If You Love Me,” into the performance.
And the only thing that saved SWV’s show was when a member of the group drafted a man from the audience and turned him into a boy-toy as they sang the hip-hop flavored “It’s All About You.” Stripped to his underwear, he allowed himself to be spanked and paraded across the stage with a belt strapped around his neck.
