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Review by: Janel Spiegel
I Love the 90’s Tour 2022
Featuring Vanilla Ice, Tone Loc, Tag Team, Young MC, All-4-One
PPL Center
Allentown, PA
Novemeber 18, 2022
7:30PM
The 90’s… What a decade. The eighties were pretty iconic. I digress, The PPL Center was packed with 90’s fans but when Tone Loc went through the decades and started asking for the crowd to reveal the year they were born, it turns out the seventies and eighties won, my section, we were high-fiving each other. The 70’s and 80’s won, we (80’s kid here) also stayed till the very, very end of the show. Shout out to my 70’s and 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s section. Some people arrived dressed for the part, the leg warmers belonged to the 80’s though.
Some of the songs from the nineties included: Lauren Hill “Doo Wop (That Thing)”, “Waterfalls” TLC, “Wonderwall” Oasis, “Fantasy Remix featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard” Mariah Carey, “Rosa Parks” Outkast, Sir Mix-A-Lot “Baby Got Back”. I could go on and on, and on.
The legendary Tag Team was introduced and they came out and immediately the crowd was hyped up. Tag Team is a legendary hip hop/pop rap duo from Atlanta, Georgia. Cecil Glenn (DC the Brain Supreme) and Steve Gibson STEVE ROLLN, it has to be like that cause when you say, Steve Rolln, you have to yell it out, STEVE ROLLN! I can imagine if you’re an O.G. 90’s kid, you know what they performed, “Whoomp! (There It Is)”, it was a sing along moment and took a lot of people back to “back in the day”.
Tag Team played DJs for a while and wanted to have the crowd sing so they picked some songs to keep the energy going. They picked the Iconic DMX’ “Party Up (Up In Here)” and nobody needed a microphone because all of Allentown, and some of Easton could probably hear the crowd. Tag Team took us back to Bel Biv DeVoe’s “Poison” Bel Viv DeVoe is one of the most iconic Hip Hop and R&B groups ever.
After Tag Team hyped up the crows, the DJ introduced Young MC. Young MC is known for “Bust A Move” from his album “Stone Cold Rhymin’” 1989. He performed some new songs; he talked about the song being used in the film “Baby Driver” and he was glad to be in Allentown. Young MC also dropped the beat and performed “Fastest Rhyme”. He performed “Nocturnal” from his album, “Adrenaline Flow”.
The crowd was up NOW, Tone Loc (Anthony Terrell Smith) is an Icon. Tone Loc was introduced, and he was talking to the crowd. Tone Loc was joined by DJ M. Walk who is “an original member of the Legendary 1580 KDAY Mixmaster’s! DJ M. Walk stayed onstage to help out Tone Loc. Tone Loc echoed the rest of his fellow performers and said, it’s too cold outside. I agree, Tone Loc, it is too cold. After hyping the crowd up a little more, Tone Loc and DJ M. Walk paid respect to Coolio whom was supposed to be part of this tour.
Tone Loc and DJ M. Walk performed one of Coolio’s favorite songs, “Gin and Juice” by Snoop Dogg. They kept the West Coast and the East Coast included. Tone Loc and DJ M. Walk did a few more songs and then Tone Loc performed “Wild Thing” and “Funky Cold Medina”. ( https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005159/ )
The next nostalgic moment was the R&B group, All-4-One. All-4-One is Jamie Jones, Delious Kennedy, Alfred Nevarez, and Tony Borowiak. They came out and sang their souls out. The crowd collectively sang “I Swear” because if you don’t all sing it together with the phone flashlights in place of the lighters, did you even sing the song?! They also sang, “I Can Love You Like That” and “Skillz” which was one of my favorite songs.
DJ M. Walk once again introduced Vanilla Ice. Vanilla Ice brought his crew onstage which included a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Michelangelo to be specific. He was also joined by a person dressed in a Polar Bear blow up costume. Vanilla Ice talked to the crowd, invited people onstage just as Tone Loc did. He performed “Ninja Rap”, “Play That Funky Music” by Hooked. Vanilla Ice saved “Ice Ice Baby” from his album To the Extreme 1990 for last.
Vanilla Ice reminisced about the nineties and how we “partied, didn’t have social media (There is no evidence of any of this.), camera phones, we stayed together and just had fun. We had house parties and block parties, picnics. It feels so “Long Ago” (Song by Mariah Carey). It was different, we stayed outside, we talked to one another. It was a fun show, a blast. Vanilla Ice also mentioned Blockbuster which wow. Not it’s streaming with Netflix, Hulu, Tubi, Amazon Prime, and more. It’s constant cell phones and with COVID the social distancing made everything difficult and COVID hit so many people so hard.
This concert was more than bringing the 90’s back or feeling nostalgic, it was a night to forget about stuff, to forget about life. Vanilla Ice said, he wants everyone to be a “teenager until Monday or just stay a teenager forever.” Tone Loc spoke some truth when he said, “be happy, just live life and be happy.”
Music is universal, music brought generations of people together in one very crowded, happy place known as the PPL Center and thank you to the PPL Staff, the Allentown Police, the security, and all the good people that keep everything running smooth like a Sade song.
They ended the show with Coolio’s LEGENDARY song, “Gangsta’s Paradise” (Song by Coolio and Kyliam Mash). Again, the 70’s and 80’s kids, we stayed, we stood up, and as the song starts with, “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I took a look at my life and realize there’s not much left.” When you looked around the PPL Center, you realize every single person that stayed onstage and that was standing and listening to this song that so many of us love, that’s the power of music.
It was an amazing show, and to see Tone Loc, Tag Team, All-4-One, Young MC, Vanilla Ice, and DJ M. Walk. (DJ M. Walk also had us all sing Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” together, he took that to the next level.) It was a good show. Tone Loc is right though, live life, and be happy and continue on that “Fantastic Voyago” COOLIO WE LOVE YOU 4 LIFE.
