JOJO PERFORMS AT THE WONDER BALLROOM FOR HER FIRST US TOUR IN 13 YEARS DEBUTING “ MAD LOVE”
STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALEXIS WAGAR
Continued from pg. 1
The U .S . tour hit the stage Feb. 15 sit Portland’ s own
Wonder Ballroom w ith a sold -out venue. One o f m y
closest friends bought a ticket to the show as a birthday
present for us to attend, being the J0J0 fanatics that
we are.
We had previously seen JoJo in the Z100 Portland
T-M obile Lounge on Sept. 13, 2016, a day before she
was supposed to open at the canceled Fifth Harmony
show in Ridgefield, W A, (yes FH, we are STILL mad you
canceled that show).
The show began with opener Stanaj, who was decent.
But let’ s be re a l— we were definitely at the show to see
our queen JoJo. There’ s som ething so nostalgic to see
somebody on stage that you listened to when you were
in fourth grade. The cult-popularity around hit songs
such as “ Get Out (Leave)” and “ Too Little, Too Late,”
kept 20-so m ethin gs alike w aiting in anticipation to
hear her perform.
It honestly felt as though I was with a bunch of my
friends and we were all fangirling together. There were
a bunch of drunk girls singing to'gether and every so
4 Clackamas Print FEBRUARY 22,2017 thedackamasprintcom
often you would hear a “ yas queen” com ing from the
audience as we all watched JoJo slay the stage. However,
at one point there was a crowd-brawl between a mom
and a rowdy concert-goer. The mom won.
“ Higher than the ceiling, hotter
than the sun - you want some o f
me? Baby come and ge t some.”
- J o J o “ Like This”
JoJo began her set with “ Clovers,” and then performed
a range of songs from the album including “ Vibe,” “ Like
This,” “ FAB” and “ F ** k Apologies,” before closing out
the set with “ Mad Love” and treating the audience to
a special encore.
The songs on “ Mad Love” and the performance are
definitely more grown-up than what we’ve seen from
JoJo in the past. A t one point in the show, there was a
very lucky audience member, a blindfold and a lap-dance.
There were also many throwbacks performed, such
as “ Disaster,” “ Get Out (Leave)” and “ Tqo Little, Too
Late.” The throwback moments were a highlight of the
show, where everybody was singing the songs they grew
up w ith and dancing as hard as they could.
“ Mad Love” showcases a more mature JoJo, focusing
on growth and finding herself. The album has a very
different vibe than her previous albums m ixing a little
EDM w ith pop. O h , and JoJo totally busted out W iz
K h alifa’ s rap feature during her “ F * * k A p o lo gie s,”
m ight I add.
W hen the concert was over, I had immediate post
concert depression and I wanted to be back there forever.
We bought our tour m erch and fangirled all the way
home.
The tour continues through May 3 Stopping in cities
such as Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago
and more.