If this gives you any indication of how Aaron Carter’s Gainesville show went just picture him jumping on stage belting “I Want Candy” while wearing a cut-off Lion King t-shirt and throwing Smarties. He bounced around the stage all night singing his classics for an audience full of screaming girls who could finally live out their childhood wet dreams.
Aaron Carter performed at High Dive this past Sunday in Gainesville as part of his After Party Tour, named after the song “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It).” The nation-wide tour rolls through small, intimate venues in college towns because, let’s be honest, we’re the only fan base he still has. Now when I say the audience was filled with nostalgic, horny fangirls a decade in the making, I’m not exaggerating. Thank Kanye I had enough friends with me or I would’ve felt very uncomfortable. Crazy crowds aside, for those of us that didn’t get ratchet twerking in New Orleans it was a great way to cap off an otherwise bland weekend.
Even though the After Party Tour is part of a larger scheme to get back on the music scene, Aaron will always be the Carter who gave Lizzie McGuire a kiss on the cheek. With that, it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t want to be taken seriously. Wearing a “Lion King” shirt was blatant pandering to a crowd hungry for nostalgia, and he sang all of the classics you forced your mom to listen to while you jammed out in your car seat. “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” “I Want Candy,” “Earthquake,” were all given their time (and I didn’t think everyone would actually know the words). In his big costume change of the night he left the stage and came back wearing an LA Lakers number 34 jersey to perform, you guessed it, “How I Beat Shaq.”
Aaron is fully aware that his fan base is reminiscent girls ready to drop their panties for an invite to Aaron’s Party. You could see the meet and greet from the window on the patio of High Dive, and he gave every not so patiently waiting girl a kiss on the cheek. Everyone waiting outside pushed against the door ready to storm like it was Black Friday with sporadic outbursts of “I would’ve paid for a kiss from Aaron Carter!”
I was surprised to discover that he’s actually talented. Like, really talented. His throw-away white kid rap songs don’t do his voice justice. He has great stage presence and knows how to work a crowd. Along with his classics he sang one new original song, a medley of ’90s boy band hits, songs from the Backstreet Boys and Nick Carter, and a medley of “Blurred Lines,” “Treasure,” and “Get Lucky.” It wasn’t until he sang the covers that he truly showed off his range (he killed the falsetto in “Blurred Lines”). Oh, and he was backed with a live band- the mark of a serious performer. It’s common practice to perform over a recording, but Aaron Carter took no shortcuts. No DJ. No lip syncing.
He may be laughing at himself, but Aaron Carter is getting us ready for a true comeback as an artist.
If you can call the first time around art, maybe it’s more of a debut.
Via: quickmeme.com
