Chris Brown soars to new heights at MetLife Stadium: Review

Look, up on the air, it’s a bird, it’s a plane — it’s Chris Brown at MetLife stadium.

The R&B superstar achieved new heights of vertical staging during his Breezy Bowl XX concert Tuesday, Aug. 12 at the East Rutherford venue. Brown, suspended from cables, whipped around the stadium at an alarming speed during the song “Look at Me Now.” He landed on a high perch on the Route 3 corner of the field, and then continued to whip around the stadium some more.

Breezy earns his money in concert. Brown was constantly in motion on Tuesday, dancing, spinning, gyrating with his dance troupe and, yes, straddling a fan on a red couch for the boot knockin’ jam “Take You Down” on a secondary stage. Even the high temperatures intensified by the frequent pyrotechnics didn’t stop him.

It did appear to stop his voice, however. Brown’s vocal backing track was very prominent with Brown hardly singing along. The night was an entertaining spectacle of music performance tableaus, less so a concert.

The Breezy Bowl XX celebrated Brown’s 20 years in the music biz with the star running through largely abbreviated versions of his impressive catalog of R&B, pop and dance hits . The concert started with his first hit, “Run It!” and ended with the uplifting “Forever.” Don’t like a song? No problem, the next one will be starting soon enough.

The concert was a story of redemption with a voiceover remarking that Brown was only 16 when he had his first hit, and yes, he went astray. Brown’s multiple brushes with the law, which included a guilty plea and five years probation for beating his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009, was not directly referred to but they were implied.

Over time, Brown as learned to “be a better human” and be “able to be vulnerable,” he said in a video voice over. Brown can fly high in the sky at his concerts, but he needs to keep his life away from the stage grounded.

“I want to thank you,” said Brown at the end of the show to cheers from the mostly female crowd. “My first time being here was Summer Jam. Now, I’m doing this (blanker) by myself. That because you guys — I love you so much. I’m thankful you’ll are out there, standing and dancing for two and a half hours — I love you!”

Summer Walker and Bryson Tiller opened the sold-out show in front of 55,000. Brown brings his Breezy Bowl XX show back to MetLife Stadium on Wednesday, Aug. 13.