Lizzo stood on stage quietly smiling as an unbroken roar of cheers and applause filled the Kia Forum in Inglewood for several minutes on Friday night near the finish of the first of her two final shows on the Special Tour.
Lizzo thrills fans at the Kia Forum with a musical celebration of love
It’s rare to see such a pure, genuine expression of love offered up to a performer. It’s rarer still that an artist delivers those same unfiltered emotions to her fans at every moment of her show.
But love and kindness, and, of course, a whole lot of fantastic music, is what makes Lizzo, the singer and rapper born Melissa Jefferson, who she is.
“These are songs about love,” Lizzo told the crowd as her band took their places on stage in darkness and she remained out of sight moments before the show began. “Treat yourself and others with love and respect,” she added.
And for 24 songs played over an hour and 45 minutes, it all combined for a joyful expression of feeling — for the music, for the people on stage and in the crowd, for this chance to share a few life-affirming hours together.
“The Sign,” which opens her current album “Special,” kicked off the show, its cheerful, upbeat rhythms flowing into “Be Loved (Am I Ready)” which saw Lizzo’s backing dancers the Big Grrrls join her on stage.
Lizzo, of course, is a proud big girl herself, and body positivity is one of the themes that flow through her work on and off stage. Her reality show “Lizzo’s Watch Out For the Big Grrrls” won the Emmy for outstanding competition program in September, with the series winner earning a spot as one of her dancers.
“L.A., when was the last time you said something kind about yourself?” she asked as the early cheers died down. “Tonight is a self-love fest!”
It was also a film shoot, Lizzo announced, with the show being taped for a live concert movie, which will become available at some point in the future.
That may or may not have influenced the appearance of a pair of surprise guests, which after fan favorites such as “Phone/Grrrls” and “Boys,” delivered the highlights of the first half of the show.
As “Tempo” neared its finish, rapper Missy Elliott strolled on stage for her featured part on the song, the crowd erupting as they realized who it was. They screamed even louder on “Rumors,” the song that followed, as rapper Cardi B arrived to sing her part with Lizzo on that track.
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Lizzo began the night in a magenta-sequined body suit, her dancers in lighter pink. Midway through the show she changed into a nude body suit for songs such as “Fitness” and “Naked,” the latter ending with the slogan “My body my choice” projected on her torso.
The tempo slowed for a mid-show section of soulful R&B. “This is the part of the show I call therapy,” Lizzo announced as she stretched out on a chaise sofa to sing the ballads “Jerome” and “Break Up Twice.”
“Like A Girl’ opened with a snippet of Chaka Khan’s “I’m Every Woman.” “Birthday Girl” ended with Lizzo and the arena singing happy birthday to her assistant, who she surprised by pulling on stage with her.
The current album “Special,” which last week was nominated for the Grammy for Album of the Year, one of five nominations Lizzo received, provided 10 of the songs in the show. As the energy dialed up for the final run of songs, one of those new tracks, “Everybody’s Gay,” transformed the Forum into a dance club through its disco beats, giant mirror ball, and the rainbow lights that splashed across the stage.
The soul ballad “Cuz I Love You” gave Lizzo a chance to show off the power of her voice when she chooses to let it soar. The jazzy pop of “Coldplay” saw her play the flute for the first time in the show. (About that flute: It has a name, Sasha Flute, which is just delightful. That it arrived and departed inside a bedazzled box that rose through a trap door in a stage made it even more amazing.)
The main set wrapped up with “Truth Hurts,” another bouncy pop song that in Lizzo’s way reclaims a word often used to put down women as a badge of honor, opening with the lines practically shouted by everyone in the arena, “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch.” To underscore the B-word positivity of her outlook, “I Love You Bitch” was dedicated to everyone at the show.
“I’m doing this to remind all of you special people how important you all are,” she told the crowd before “Good As Hell,” one of her most-loved songs, wrapped the main set. She then repeated the question she’d asked at the start of the show: “When was the last time you said something kind about yourself?
“I don’t want you to ever go another day without saying something kind about yourself to yourself,” Lizzo said. “Say I love you. You are beautiful. And you can do anything.”
“Good As Hell,” with its upbeat message (“Baby how you feelin’?/Feeling good as hell”) closed the show before an encore of “Juice,” the 2019 single that helped break her into the mainstream.
Then, with the dance-y beats of “About Damn Time,” her 2022 No. 1 single and a Grammy nominee for both record and song of the year — and one more flute solo — the show concluded with all the love anyone could hope to feel.
Lizzo’s The Special Tour
When: Friday, Nov. 18
Where: Kia Forum, Inglewood