Nothing but death could have kept me from Fantasia’s concert at The Peabody Opera House Friday night. Was anybody else about to have a nervous breakdown and start smoking cigarettes trying to find a parking space? After Friday, I’m convinced that The St. Louis Blues fans call off work just to post-up in the prime spots until it’s time to head to the game. But you came to hear about the concert, so I’ll get to it. Demetria McKinney came out with Ola Ray hair and a hot red sequined catsuit that paid homage to the one and only Diana Ross. That, or she was keeping with Fantasia’s “Christmas After Midnight” theme by dressing as a sexy glass ball ornament. It was a cute enough set, the folks got life from her Whitney tribute. Fantasia proved that she had graduated from Celie to Shug Avery with the glamour overload she brought to that stage for her headlining set. That metallic backless evening gown was life. She was a hair flower away from serving a seductive Billie Holiday. She knew folks were ready to see her sweat, stomp the stage down and holler as usual, but she was giving Fantasia Deveraux instead. They were a bit bothered at first, but quickly got over it when she still slayed vocally while keeping her composure, for the most part, as she delivered Christmas classics from her holiday album seasoned with a few sprinkles of her original music. I wasn’t the least bit mad at her set – I was low-key thrilled that she showed us that she’s grown into a multifaceted entertainer. Though I could have lived without all the talk about her grandfather’s love of brown liquor, the whole thing was extremely cute. While Fantasia only gave us a few little minutes of hollering, a woman in the audience with a fur vest and matching purse shouted our whole section down. I was expecting her to be the one to kick her shoes off and stomp down the aisle at any second. I was so traumatized that I woke up out of my sleep shouting “yesssssss,” “that’s right,” “that’s my girl…I love me some Fantasia,” “you betta sannnnng Fantasia” and “you betta say that.”
