Even before skyrocketing to international pop stardom, the girls of Destiny's
Child were being billed as a modern-day Diana Ross and the Supremes.The comparison seemed fitting -- big hits, big fashion and voluptuous hair, to say nothing of personnel changes, lawsuits and enough accusations by former members to inspire images of catfights galore.
But if Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams had become the divas that an electric sign proclaimed them to be as they hit the stage Saturday, their farewell-tour performance ensured they went out in the proverbial blaze of glory.
Before more than 9,000 people at Tampa's St. Pete Times Forum, the trio's "Destiny Fulfilled . . . and Lovin' It Tour" had the singers romping through smash hits, solo songs and newer material in a show paced about as fast as their rocket-like rise to stardom.
The performance seemed designed to make its point as a "goodbye bash" from the get-go. The trio blasted through its biggest hits in the first half -- as if saying "so long" to songs of the past -so it could concentrate on solo material and songs from its newest and final album, "Destiny Fulfilled."
The three rose through trap doors at stage front to start the show with one of their biggest hits, "Say My Name," which seemed to rob the song of some of the buoyant momentum it had when it was used as a set-closing climax in previous years.
Small matter. The renditions of hits that followed kept the images of screenprojected flames on "Independent Women Part I" -- the group's biggest hit to date -figuratively fanning through other hits such as "No, No, No Part 2," "Bug A Boo," "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Bootylicious."
After an extended dance sequence by six male dancers that at first seemed pointless -except to give the singers time for a costume change -- Destiny's Child reappeared through trap doors and joined the dancers for an extended version of "Soldier," a new song that became a concert highlight.
Vocally, Beyoncé, Michelle and Kelly sang in stellar form, as if proving their future solo careers are sound.
Knowles got her lead-singer due in solo hits "Baby Boy," "Naughty Girl" and especially strong versions of "Dangerously in Love" and "Crazy in Love," which brought the house down. But Williams and Rowland more than held their own with solo efforts such as "Do You Know" (Williams) and "Bad Habit" (Rowland).
If the concert had a strategic mission, it was: Engage the audience. Performing on a wide, rounded stage that gave them plenty of room to be anywhere but stage front, the singers constantly reverted to that spot to maintain maximum audience contact -- whether leading audience chants (as Beyoncé did on "Naughty Girl"), talking between songs or simply seeming to lock eyes with the audience.
Late in the show, they pulled three men from the audience on stage for lap-dance spoofs. At another point, they showed their prowess at three-part harmony on a snippet of The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There."
And through much of the show, spotlights from the stage sent blue, red and other colored beams into the audience -- like an MTV mothership, a la "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
But even as the performance said "goodbye" to Destiny's Child and "hello" to the once-and-future solo stars, it also celebrated the fact that, as a trio, the three had become one of the biggest female groups of all time.
While the women spent plenty of concert time apart on stage, they seemed to enjoy merging into a singular spotlight, too.
By show's end, which fittingly closed with pile-driving versions of "Survivor" and new song "Lose My Breath," Destiny's Child had pretty much taken the audience's collective breath away.