Live Review: Ja Rule, Ashanti

The can that was hurled onstage at Ashanti, as she and Ja Rule said goodbye to the crowd, was symbolic of the big "fuck you" everyone was feeling after a highly disappointing performance last night.

As she uttered "thanks for throwing the drink, cunt," the unified frustration grew within a crowd that had been left listening to four hours of mediocre pre-acts before the headliners strolled in an hour late only to deliver a half hour, half-arsed performance.

Not to say that MeEntertainment didn't do the best they could to keep the crowd entertained during those four hours. It was just unfortunate that it was hard to make out what the host of the night was saying half the time, so it was impossible to know who he was introducing — but this reviewer suspects there were some last minute ring-ins to fill in time gaps.

Normally it would be customary to review all of the opening acts, but on this occasion it wouldn't be fair, as the only one this reviewer recognised was Kennyon Brown, but he only played for 15 minutes out of the gruelling five-hour show.

The rest of the time was filled with awkward lip-syncing from the show's host and dance battles between a kid and a guy who kept dislocating his shoulders. It's pretty sad when the highlight of a gig is a promotion company guy's dancing and a spontaneous dance-off between two big-breasted audience members.

The moral of the story here, artists, is don't book back-to-back performances on the same night, show up an hour late, then expect to get away with singing over a backing track for half an hour. It will probably result in you having a can hurled at you. Rant over.