Review: In Tampa, Janet Jackson crams 39 songs into sweaty ‘Together Again’ concert

“I want you to know one thing. I can go all night!” Janet Jackson announced early in her set to the enormous crowd that came to see her in Tampa on Tuesday night. With that coy admission and a sassy snap of her fingers, Jackson went right into “All Nite (Don’t Stop)” from her 2004 album Damita Jo and proceeded to do what she does best for the duration of the program: entertain.

Amid another successful leg of her current "Together Again" tour, the 58-year-old veteran singer, actor, and dancer was able to fill every seat (and what looked like the bulk of the lawn area) of MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, despite not having a studio album to promote (her last full release was 2015’s Unbreakable ). But her fans didn’t need to attend on the strength of a new release; they came to see the sparkle and the allure of Ms. Jackson’s onstage presence and were treated to two hours of glitz and songs that spanned most of her musical output.

In dramatic fashion, a huge platform, draped with massive curtains at the center of the massive stage, was the first sight concert attendees got to see, to kick off Jackson’s show. As the curtains slowly rose, the star of the night was revealed, donning an elaborately designed gray trench coat ensemble that matched the garb the four male dancers assembled at the base of the platform wore. Sporting black sparkly boots and opting for a braided hairdo, Jackson resembled a supermodel stepping onto a runway in her fashionable attire. Youthful, stunning, and fit, the close-up shots beamed on the large screens that lined the stage revealed Jackson already starting to perspire, before she’d even made her first dance move. Chalk that up to fancy costuming not agreeing with mid-July Florida humidity, which seemed like no challenge for Ms. Jackson and her relentless and extremely physical dancers.

Jackson’s current tour setlist is broken up into “acts” that, although not clearly defined, seem to be differentiated by various stages of her career. Her introductory “act” was dominated by thumping, dance-oriented songs originating from her later albums. Most of the material seemed to be unfamiliar to the audience, but that didn’t completely make their enthusiasm wane. At one point, early in the opening of this act, Janet stood solemnly near the front of the stage, and took a slow, deliberate look at the entire audience, during which she received impassioned wails and cheers, as chants of her first name erupted.

But it wasn’t until some of her more familiar material surfaced, namely the silky, seductive groove of 1993’s “That’s The Way Love Goes,” that the crowd really responded to the music and sang along in unison with Jackson. But truth be told, this wasn’t a complete song that was delivered, as was true for the remainder of Jackson’s 39-song set list that made up this show. While it may be common for performers with such lengthy catalogs, who also incorporate dancing and visuals into their shows to rely more on abbreviated versions of their hits to cram more material into the program, at times, hearing only select portions of songs got a little tedious.

As Janet sang and occasionally included some banter into the headset-style mic she used, she continued to unleash tight and highly choreographed dance moves with her troupe throughout the night. While it wasn’t clear if a band was part of the ensemble as no musicians were seen on the stage, it wasn’t until the tail-end of the first act that a group of musicians (including a DJ) emerged on floating platforms, from behind some of the ground-level projection screens. Adding live sound to the pre-recorded backing tracks that Janet sang along to, the group added some punch and depth to the tunes that were being cranked out throughout the venue.

Costume changes were plentiful throughout the night. All four dancers appeared wearing kilts and sleeveless white shirts and ties for the second act, which kicked off with one of Jackson’s biggest hits dating back to the 1980s, the feminist clapback anthem, “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” from her monster album Control . In tandem with her dancers, Jackson emerged wearing a full-body jumpsuit, encrusted with sparkly rhinestones, which matched the tartan plaid of the dancers’ kilts. It’s no wonder she and the highly active dancers were sweating buckets all night long; so much so, that stagehands came out with mops in hand often to quickly wipe away the pools of sweat each performer left behind during the night.

A later act focused more on ballads which gave Jackson a chance to remain still and was met with sentimental enthusiasm from the audience. Things got a little racy, however, for the performance of I “Get Lonely.” As each of the fit, shirtless dancers took turns sitting on a wooden chair at the center of the stage for the number, Jackson got a little physical in seductively feeling them up all over.

It wasn’t until the fourth and final act of the night that the performance hit its height of intense excitement. Focusing on material from Jackson’s landmark 1989 album Rhythm Nation 1814 , the set found Ms. Jackson and dancers sporting black, military-style costumes (in line with the visual theme of that album and its accompanying music videos) and performing some of the material from it. State of the World and the album’s title track sounded fresh and still relevant and took on a level of power and domination that some of the night’s earlier performances lacked.

The night’s closing song, Together Again, from (arguably) Jackson’s finest album, 1997’s The Velvet Rope , ended the show on a high, celebratory note. The show only proved that Janet Jackson is still a bona fide musical superstar and that she can still deliver, in both the musical and visual departments, and that she has dozens of contemporaries who have followed in her footsteps and owe her a debt of gratitude for the doors she broke down and style she’s exemplified since her arrival in the entertainment industry.

Kicking things off was pop/hip-hop star Nelly who more than warmed up the crowd. Kicking off as the sun hadn’t quite set yet, the platinum-selling artist, known for songs like “Country Grammar” and “Hot in Herre” delivered a 40-minute set, accompanied by another emcee, a DJ, and four very provocatively dressed female dancers. Running through a slew of his hits, including the aforementioned standouts, Nelly, too, crammed as much punch as possible into his set. Jamming 16 songs, or snippets, into his portion, Nelly’s set featured a nod to other hip-hop contemporaries Flo Rida and DMX in the form of a medley that contained portions of songs popularized by those artists, and he did exactly what an opening act is supposed to do: get an audience feeling good, get them up and out of their seats, and get them to sing along and dance, which the vast majority of the patrons in attendance gladly did.

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