Mario @ NC State Fair (RALEIGH, NC 10/23)

So last night I had a decision to make, stay home and watch the BET Hip Hop Awards or go see Mario at the North Carolina State Fair. But thanks to the genius that invented Tivo, my decision was made for me. (I still haven't watched the show, so I have no idea what happend as I type this.) But yeah Mario (Mr. Dancing with the Stars himself) invaded the NC State fair in Raleigh...but let him tell it, he was in CHARLOTTE last night.
This dude said AT LEAST 4 times, "It's great to be here in Charlotte tonight." Now If you've ever been to North Carolina, then you understand how different Raleigh and Charlotte are. It bugged me to the point that I went to his manager and said "Umm, you do know you're in Raleigh right?" and she goes *looking around lost* "Uhh yea I have no idea why he's saying Charlotte, but I can't interrupt him during the show." As she proceeds to get a sheet of paper and write "You're in Raleigh!" and places it in front of his mic. :/
Now for the performance, I really want you all to understand the venue this was held in. Dorton Arena in Raleigh is about as terrible a place to have an R&B show as there is out there. It's a big wide open space with glass windows toward the top of the arena, thus if you have any type of band, they will drown a singer out completely, ESPECIALLY one that doesn't have the strongest voice or doesn't bring back-up singers (Mario had no back-up).
So yea, Mario was drowned out by his band but still gave an overall decent performance, connecting with the crowd, even bringing a BIG girl on stage to serenade. I didn't get to write down every song he performed but off the top of my head I remember "Let me Love you", "Cryin Out For Me", "Skippin" (one of my favorites off the "Go" album), "Just a friend", "Kryptonite", "Music For Love", and "Go".
I didn't get to talk to him and ask him why he didn't know where he was performing because I was trying to walk around the fair for little bit and didn't have time to wait for this guy, but I don't blame him. I blame his management. There's no excuse for that. It's their job to make sure their artist knows where they're performing at that particular night. And they messed up.
I rate the performance 4 out of 10. But again a lot of this has to do with the venue being horrible and not knowing where you're performing. Had these two situations been corrected this show could've easily been at least an 8.
Next up, HOPEFULLY Ludacris and Lloyd at North Carolina Central's Homecoming tomorrow. Still working on going to that one. 50/50 at this point. But should I be there, you know I'll have a recap. SO keep it RIGHT THERE!