Posted by Bossip Staff

Here are some notes about Bobby Brown’s performance on the Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage cruise:

The’King’ is ‘dead’

There were plenty of empty seats. Most cruisers seemed to attend out of curiosity, not because they wanted to jam to “My Prerogative.” Bobby had the same three energetic female backups and a young energetic band, all 20-somethings in age. His Sunday night performance was shocking to some, but the Monday night performance was more painful to watch.

Why? Bobby put forth effort, but he just didn’t have anything in the gas tank, so to speak. He couldn’t move and he couldn’t sing. So he played all the live performance tricks: his mike was turned down; he let backups and the band have solos while he went offstage to catch his breath; he prompted the audience to sing along. His set was only 30 minutes long, and people were getting out in a hurry again from the first song. Bobby tried to blame his performance on an undisclosed medical condition, saying, “My doctors said I shouldn’t come, but I didn’t want to disappoint people.” (Too late for that.)

As a late-show surprise, former New Edition member Johnny Gill came in to sing a duet. Bobby tried to hit a high note he couldn’t hold, so Gill sang the note, for which Bobby sincerely thanked him. Gill then admonished the crowd for “kicking a man when he’s down.” (Gill himself performed during the late-night slot on Day 3). Lisa pitied Bobby because he had been the butt of jokes for the last 24 hours. Still, he got undeserved love from hardcore fans on the floor, bless their hearts, who encouraged him during his entire set.

He knows the deal

So I watched the Bobby Brown train wreck for two nights. I’m unsympathetic. Bobby Brown has been a professional performer for three decades. He knows the deal. If he knew he couldn’t perform, he should have been watching from the seats like the rest of us. Will Bobby learn a lesson from this? If he had apologized to the crowd and said, “Thelast two days are not up to my standards; I’ll be back next year, in shape and better than ever,” I would have thought so.

But no such luck. His show was scheduled to end at 3:30 a.m. By 2:35 a.m., the venue was completely empty, except for the waiters.

Let’s party

I’m noticing that the real “kings” of this cruise are the DJs: Biz Markie, Cut Creator, Steve “Silk” Hurley, Mix Master Mitch, Spinderella, and Doug E. Fresh, one of my favorites. That’s because the Joyner folks made some changes.

LOL, now that is comedy. When people would rather lose money in the ship’s casino or hang out at the cheesy @ss nightclub instead of listening to you sing, you know your career’s over. LOL

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