Oh Wango!

Wango Tango 2008 came with a bang this year for KIIS FM's yearly concert festival, held in Irvine, California for the second year in a row. Living in the area, it was a pleasant surprise that the overcast weather we had been graced with changed for one afternoon only to beautiful blue skies and hot temperatures. While some didn't mind the 90 degree plus weather, most teens, young adults, and parents were just excited for what laid ahead. A wango tango village opened up it's doors to begin the festivities at 2pm.

Inside the village was a photobooth, carnival rides, 2 stages that gave away goodies, and various stands offering unique items. From there the concert started at 6:30 pm.

The Jonas Brothers, while I can't say I know much of their music, gave quite the performance to those who aren't followers as well to their die hard fans. Kevin, Nick, and Joe were very much the crowd favorite with teenage girls singing along and following the moves to every song. They performed such hits as SOS, When You Look Me In The Eyes, and That's just the way we roll. Although their set was only around 20 minutes, talk of the Jonas Brothers carried throughout the entire night.

The Dey was a no show, so Prima J took their place and performed a good set, although it was shorter and otherwise an exact copy of their performance just an hour prior at the small wango tango village stage. You can see videos of their performances here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gROe7m08oZU for Prima J, and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9MaBrBALZI.

After a few lesser known acts, Miley Cyrus took the stage to perform a 25 minute set and to be the end of the show for many preteens whose parents decided it to be a good idea to leave before the more mature acts that followed.

Miley did a great job of keeping the audience alive and active sounding great and nailing her dance routines. It was unfortunate that her outfit didnt want to cooperate with her and had at least one near wardrobe malfunctions, but did an amazing job not drawing attention in on that problem. Overall I was very pleased at her set and I know many youngings agree. Singing to, Fly on the Wall, Breakout, See you Again, Start all Over, Clear, East Northumberland High, and one to two others, even if one wasn't a Miley follower, the songs were still familiar as they seemed to be played on every radio station, especially 102.7 Kiis fm.

Danity Kane, Pitbull, Flo Rida, and Snoop Dogg all followed, although unfortunatly I wasn't very impressed. Their performances seemed weak giving half hearted performances, Danity Kane seemed more like a 4 person group than 5, with an unnamed member choosing to do their own performance, Flo Rida only performing 3 songs and hiding in the crowd away from most of the audience for most of his set, Snoop Dogg having a group rapping more than he was, and Pitbull giving the same yet less thrilling performance as last year. I was dissapointed at how the concert didn't end with a grand exit, rather just half of the audience still watching, mostly yawning, and nothing like last years ending with Fergie/Ludacris/Will.I.Am. Although, I have to say for the money, it was a great deal, and Wango Tango is a concert every music lover should attend at least once.