Concert Review - Dignity Tour - Radio City Music Hall - New York

Sorry that I haven't been updating the site lately. I just haven't had much time for Hilary in the past few months, but I did travel to New York on Monday for her concert at Radio City Music Hall. Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention when the tickets went on sale so I had to get them on eBay. I ended up paying about $100 each for 10th row seats, which was only about $10 over face value when you count in the service charges, so I was pretty happy with that. The seats were good, and when Hilary was on our side of the stage she was only about 30 feet from us.

I've seen Hilary a few times in concert now (this was the fifth time actually) and it seems like every time I see her the show gets bigger. When Hilary first started touring about 4 years ago it was just her and her band. When the Most Wanted tour came around she added a lot of lights and some choreography. The Dignity tour show is even bigger. The band has expanded to include 3 guitarists, 2 keyboards, and 2 drummers. There are also backup singers and dancers, and the choreography and light show is pretty complex. Although I would be happy just seeing Hilary and her band, I have to admit the new show is pretty impressive. It’s almost more like a musical production than just a simple concert.

It’s pretty amazing to see how good Hilary has become at performing on stage. She is very confident and seems to move effortlessly through the songs and dancing. By my count she did 10 songs from the new album (Stranger, Dignity, With Love, Danger, Gypsy Woman, Never Stop, Dreamer, Outside of You, I Wish, Play With Fire). There were also quite a few older songs including Why Not, So Yesterday, Come Clean, Our Lips Are Sealed, Fly, The Getaway, Someone’s Watching Over Me. Hilary also did a cover of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield” and a song that used the instrumental and chorus of the Depeche Mode classic “Personal Jesus.” Hilary was on stage for about 90 minutes.

The show was very entertaining and Hilary looked great in each one of her many costume changes. I’m not sure if I liked this show more than the Most Wanted Tour show though. It seems like the sounds of the new album don’t translate to a live show as well as some of Hilary’s older songs. Many of the new songs sounded a little awkward when being played by a live band. I was a little disappointed that some of the songs from Hilary Duff were not played. Songs like Do You Want Me, Weird, Mr. James Dean, and Rock This World sound amazing live even though they weren’t “hits” for Hilary.

During the concert Hilary said that she never thought she’d get to play Radio City Music Hall, which has to be a thrill for any performer. I live pretty far from New York near Washington DC, but I just couldn’t pass up seeing Hilary at such a historic venue. If Hilary comes anywhere near your town for a concert you should definitely go. She puts on a great show.