Sass, originality and emotional vulnerability? Lizzo brought it all in Rupp performance

“Lexington, we’re on a first name basis now,” remarked Lizzo after the percolating beats of “Tempo” settled in Saturday evening at Rupp Arena. “Lizzo and Lex.”

Sounds like quite a tag team, right? Well, it turned out to be more than some benign match-up. The wildly popular rap, soul and sass artist connected at once with the Rupp crowd of 14,000 through a dance party that shifted from songs of tough love to anthems of personal empowerment. Some were a bit saucy. Several were outwardly jubilant. Others navigated circles of humanity both humorous and profoundly vulnerable. But how the crowd responded to Lizzo’s uncompromising groovefest was as moving as any other aspect of the nearly two hour performance. More on the latter in a moment.

The most immediate takeaway from Lizzo as a stage artist was her complete originality. Oh sure, there were accents within the music she promoted that borrowed from multiple generations of rhythm-and-blues, from the modern pop sheen of the show-opening “The Sign” to the torchy elegance of “Naked” to the ‘90s soul/hip-hop mashup surrounding a cover of Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Wop (That Thing).” But the presentation was totally her own.

On one hand, Lizzo exhibited an unrepentance in her stage persona, speaking and singing with abundant drops of the “f” and “b” words. Sometimes, the lingo was so blunt and succinct (but, at the same time, so unassuming), that one couldn’t help but chuckle. Case in point: The one-line chorus command from “Jerome,” which Lizzo delivered from a chaise set up on a runaway extension of the massive stage: “Jerome, take your ass home.”

But there were also moments of striking and unexpected intimacy. Early in the performance, Lizzo gave a tearful recollection of online shaming she experienced earlier in the day. In such an extravagant concert presentation, one might have suspected the moment was staged. Since her face was shown on several large video screens that left her nowhere to emotionally hide, the moment looked quite real. Lizzo then remedied herself with a pair of tunes — one her own, the other a profoundly appropriate classic — to call on the positivity that has galvanized so much of her music (and, for that matter, much of her audience appeal): the title tune to her 2022 album “Special” and a joyous snippet of the Chaka Khan (by way of Whitney Houston) hit “I’m Every Woman.”

That the audience reacted so feverishly to the show’s emotional extremes was no great surprise. Arena crowds are invariably supportive of the artists they have paid a tidy sum to see perform. This outing, though, was different. The demographics at work here were remarkably diverse, not just in race, but also in gender, age and sexual orientation. Near me, was a 9-year-old girl dancing like it was Christmas morning. In front of her was a woman who proudly confessed to being in her “happy 70s.” She appeared to be having just as much fun.

Then again, the audience was pumped for this performance before Lizzo ever appeared. While the evening featured two opening acts — a DJ set by Sophia Eris and a fairly empty groove-and-grind outing by Atlanta rapper Latto that was more concerned with twerks than tunes — neither provided a level of audience warm-up triggered by a set of hit recordings played through the sound system from the Village People, Neil Diamond, Mark Ronson and ABBA. The sing-a-long cheer that ensued, which led right up to the start of Lizzo’s set, was astounding and unprompted.

Lizzo seized on such interaction. A mid-show performance of “Everybody’s Gay” sent the audience into hysterics, cementing the party mood everything the first half of the show worked toward. The previous evening in Knoxville, Lizzo used the tune to throw some well-publicized legislation back in Tennessee’s face by bringing onstage a troupe of drag artists. There was no such accompaniment at Rupp, but a rainbow-colored laser show got the song’s attitude across.

In other audience exchanges, Lizzo commented on several signs held up by patrons near the stage. One, likely from a rebel high schooler, said “I Missed Prom.” The Lizzo response: “What do you need prom for? You got me.”

Another asked the singer to draw a design for a tattoo the female patron intended on getting. The Lizzo response: Applying a new layer of lipstick before giving a smack of her lips on the sign. “This way,” she told the fan, “you can tell everyone to kiss my…”

The big hits “Good as Hell” and “About Damn Time” were saved for evening’s end, concluding a performance full of multi-generational R&B thrills with a hefty human component. But the singer still had one self-deprecating trick up her sleeve. As the audience filed out, Lizzo appeared on the stage’s primary screen one last time with a few parting words.

“Hey everybody. It’s not over until the fat lady sings. Well… I guess it’s over.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2023 at 11:44 AM.