LONDON -- More phunky love message with the Peas, please.
Rappers and breakdancers Will (will.i.am) Adams, Jaime (Taboo) Gomez, Allan (apl.de.ap) Pineda and singer Stacy (Fergie) Ferguson of the Black Eyed Peas had the phunk and love flowing in downtown London last night.
The L.A. pop-hip-hop quartet headlined at the John Labatt Centre, their great songs and breakdances.
Also undeniable were the Peas' messages of peace and love.
"The only light I want to see is from London," Will said during one of the few quiet moments when he asked the fans to loft lighters and cellphones to shine out in sympathy with London, England. "The light that we put up right now we're sending to London, England . . . we are not afraid of terror," the Peas' co-founder said.
The Peas were serious about having phunky fun, too.
Fergie was apparently battling a miserable flu, but managed to pull over her one-handed cartwheels and stage writhing.
She was also around for the encore, including a non-stop Don't Phunk With My Heart.
The men in the Peas were in top freestyling form when it came to words fired off at full Pea warp speed. Meanwhile, their breakdancing moves had the fans cheering, too.
"Hello L-O-N-D-O-N," Will spelled out during one of the solo bits midshow. It was an instant crowdpleaser. Fergie spent her time crooning a ballad while lying on her back and then scat singing like crazy.
When the group reassembled after the solo spots, they blasted through Labor Day (It's a Holiday) and enjoyed getting the surf guitar going on Pump It, which is probably the Peas' next big hit.
Also on the bill were Toronto singer Jully Black and U.S. rapper Talib Kweli, who praised Black in his set and then returned to help the Peas get the encore started. Kweli sampled the Beatles during one great example of what he called "the collage" of hip-hop.
More than two hours after Black opened for them, the Peas emerged after a blast of Star Wars' imperial death march from their band.
When the truly fantastic four hit the stage for Hey Mama, Apl and Fergie came out strutting down the stairs from a mid-stage riser. Will, in truly loud plaid pants, was first to the edge of the stage to pump the fans. Taboo kept his cool and his hair under an elaborate cap.
Smells Like Funk, another Pea hit from their breakthrough album Elephunk, followed and the party was on.
They finished the main set with an extended Where is The Love?, the best example of their social consciousness -- the song attacks the CIA, the KKK and L.A. street gangs -- and their ability to produce a great 9/11 anthem.
The young, loud and happy crowd sang along reverently with Where is The Love? and then screamed for about five minutes before the Peas' encore began.
The fans were still up and shouting almost 30 minutes into the encore, when the Peas were preparing to say an exuberant goodbye -- for now -- with the partying anthem Let's Get It Started.
The Peas came to London with the No. 1 album in Canada, Monkey Business (Universal) and the hit Don't Phunk With My Heart. Sales are expected to reach 300,000 copies this week in Canada, where the Peas do about 20 per cent of the business they do in the U.S. Conventionally, the ratio is more like 10-plus album sales in the U.S. to one in Canada.
In other centre news, British rocker Billy Idol and Vancouver star Bif Naked are playing the centre's 3,200-seat RBC Theatre format on Aug. 29. Fans who sign up by 3 p.m. today for the centre's cyberclub via its website -- www.johnlabattcentre.com -- will be able to purchase tickets from tomorrow at
10 a.m. until Thursday at 5 p.m. Public sales begin Friday at 10 a.m.
Even with large sections of the upper seating curtained off last night, the Peas still pulled a bigger crowd than on last year's trip here.
The last time the Peas played London, it was at a packed Club Phoenix in May 2004.
Fergie was battling at foot injury at that gig. Just as she did last night, she didn't let her ailment slow her down a bit."We've been growing," Taboo said in a pre-show interview of the jump to arenas on this tour. "That was Elephunk," he said, referring to the group's breakthrough CD, which had sales around the world of about eight million.
For all its arena dates these days and its support of global causes, the group still likes to play smaller venues in settings it calls the "Peapod."
