PICS courtesy of A Jizz
Article by T Cole

So Central Ohio is happy to announce that R&B Princess Keyshia Cole has finally graced us with her presence. On Friday, Keyshia and her entourage ripped the stage at Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium for a hot second, after a super long pre-show hosted by Power 107.5 personalities and some local talent, and the absence of the opening act, Plies. Sources say that Plies missed his original flight and was unable to arrive in time to open for the show, which was scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm.

At approximately 9:30 pm Keyshia finally took the stage, literally. She has an amazing stage presence and her voice is mind-blowing. Looking and sounding like a super-star, she gave the audience what they came for- her raw emotional appeal. She opened with the number two track on her newest album “Didn’t I tell you”, and rolled into other hits such as “Love”, “Let it go”, “Should’ve let you go”, and “I just want it to be over”. She talked to the audience about what some of these songs meant to her and where they came from, showing her around-the-way attitude, as she had the audience sing along, and rock with her. All in all, she really brought it on stage. While she monologued about what is going on in her life, personally and professionally (she dispelled the rumors of her being pregnant). She then began what sounded like an introduction to her next set of songs (she had only been on stage for about a half hour), sources behind the scenes informed her that Plies had arrived at the auditorium. Keyshia shared that info with the audience and talked about singing one of her number one songs, just before she gave an abrupt thank you and good night and made a swift exit stage right, leaving audience members confused and frustrated. Some speculate that her exit was due to the stage crew walking onto the stage and moving mic’s and using them to announce that Plies was in the building, while she was still talking and preparing to continue her performance. Whatever the case, the majority of the spectators were pissed and demanding an encore by chanting “Keyshia” repeatedly. The request fell on deaf ears as Plies took the stage to the delight of the tweens of the audience, who went bananas!! Plies’ performance was a series of curse words and mumbling as he made graphic gestures and offered the audience the option to choose between the edited and explicit versions of his music (which was clearly outside of the agreement where he agreed to be censored). He opted for the explicit and proceeded to perform snippets of songs on which he is featured, and a few of his own.
Plies clearly was not a good match as the majority of the crowd, who had purchased tickets for the January show, which would have featured J Holiday instead of Plies, left when Keyshia did. Regardless of what went on backstage, people paid good money for a KEYSHIA COLE performance, and she should have supplied that demand. As the headliner, the audience was due much more than she gave. What she did give was DA BOMB, but it was much too short for a $70 ticket. This is the fourth time she was scheduled for a Columbus performance and the first time she actually showed up. Fans have waited a long time to see her in concert and did not get their just due. Maybe her keepin’-it-real, hood persona is only for on stage because her diva behavior started the moment she arrived. Promoters received irate phone calls from a riled up Keyshia, after she berated the driver, when she felt the driver’s sign was not big or colorful enough at the airport. Her driver the next day didn’t have any better luck as he was sent to go and change for not wearing a suit to pick her up for the show. I am an avid Keyshia fan, and I am glad she made it to Columbus, but I feel the love fans showed her was not appreciated or reciprocated. When and if she comes back, she needs to leave her diva-tude in Cali, straight up.