Rebecca Black performs at Outset in Chicago on April 4, 2025.
By Nina Tadic
The lyric “Gotta get down on Friday” held a brand new meaning on this past Friday night, as electro/hyperpop performer Rebecca Black took on one of Chicago’s newest venues, Outset for her Salvation Tour.
Even on a rainy, chilly night, the block was lined with folks in fishnets and mini skirts, fur coats and sunglasses, muscle tees and dazzling jewelry – all signs of a crowd ready to party. And party they did.
In the smoky blue flood of light, this vibrant cluster of people lined Outset’s horseshoe-shaped balcony and crowded the floor early – in time to watch Blue Hawaii, an electronic duo that has mastered the art of getting a crowd moving. Between vocalist Ra’s angelic and airy vocals and DJ Kirby’s entrancing beats, the duo had their audience in a trance by the second track in. Booming bass, pulsating lights – their energy is unmatched, and the crowd reflected it back without missing a beat the entire set.
If there’s any doubt that Blue Hawaii was a hell of an opener – that doubt can be easily disputed by the fact that between their set and Rebecca’s, one crowd-goer (who did end up fine) passed out (the phrase “party till you pass out” hits a new level) in the (literal) heat of the moment.
Blue Hawaii performs at Outset in Chicago on April 4, 2025.
Not five minutes after this ordeal in the pit, Ms. Rebecca Black, in all her glory, comes down from the heavens (the green room) to bring Salvation to the audience in a tour-de-force worthy of a sold out arena. Far past her “Friday” era, but embracing it to the fullest, she begins her set (after flickering projections of signs claiming “Salvation is Coming” in a countdown) with a “Friday (Remix)” intro that has the whole crowd belting out “gotta be fresh, gotta go downstairs, gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal” in unison, anticipating the arrival of Black onstage.
In the past few years, Black has made her identity as a queer woman clear, both in her music and her performances, and the way she embraces the queer community in her performances is always notable and a complete blast. With that said, it was zero shock to any Rebecca Black veteran to see two very muscular men, in two very skimpy white bodysuits and denim mini-skirts and studded police hats walk military-style onto the stage, turn, begin to passionately kiss, and then proceed to welcome Black to the stage.
When Black does make her way out, she is to die for in a studded green “I’m Rebecca” tee-shirt, denim short-shorts, fishnets, furry knee-high boot covers, and chunky black sunglasses – gauze scarf wrapped around her face a million times a-la-post-op-face-lift, wind blowing the layers of her scarf and hair back from her like an old Hollywood starlet. Her two male escorts unravel her scarf from her face, she loses her glasses, and immediately goes into Britney Spears “Hit Me Baby One More Time” level choreography without flinching.
Rebecca Black performs at Outset in Chicago on April 4, 2025.
She stomps, struts, jumps, and spins across the stage for the entirety of “Tears In My Pocket,” being lit by flickers of red and white LED lights, the video wall behind her flicking on and off, as well.
By the time she gets through “TRUST!” and moves onto “Twist the Knife,” she’s twirling two blue-lit light bars in-hand, gliding across the stage on a moving platform pushed by her two backup dancers. She is the center of the universe (at least the universe within Outset, for the night), and no one can take their eyes off her. She has unwavering control over her crowd. When she says jump, the floor is suddenly a trampoline. People aren’t asking “How high?”, they’re just jumping higher than one could fathom.
Black pulls out all the stops for her fans’ entertainment, too. The way she has been influenced stylistically by artists like Katy Perry (or even Madonna) is not lost on anyone, especially when she does a quick outfit change, reappearing onstage in a giant cone bra and a fur coat for “American Doll”. She knows she is an it-girl, and she knows that if she’s going to do campy, vibrant, wildly-fun shows successfully, she’s got to do it with her full chest – and she does. But she isn’t afraid to acknowledge her fans’ role in this success, either, and that is another facet of the diamond that makes up Ms. Black – her urge to be humble, gracious, and kind.
Thanking fans for joining her on the Salvation Tour, Black acknowledges that she has headlined shows in Chicago three times. This has not been an overnight success story – but it has been what sounds to be a very fun growth. It’s as though while Rebecca was gelling into her current sound and style, her fans were molding around her to support this style – her music, her personality, her fashion, her sexuality, her performances. All of it. The Salvation Tour’s success definitely speaks to that growth, and Black is so insanely gracious for all of it.
Rebecca Black performs at Outset in Chicago on April 4, 2025.
Though the tour is in support of Black’s Salvation album, she does pull out some throwbacks for longer-term fans – including “Sick to my Stomach”, an earworm from her debut album, Let Her Burn, and “Personal” from the Rebecca Black Was Here EP, among others.
Another highlight of the set also included bringing a fan onstage to try out her “Sugar Water Cyanide” – and then telling the crowd how exciting it was to release said song as the first single from Salvation. Following her performance of “Sugar Water Cyanide” complete with her backup dancers dressed as chemists, she went into another set of oldies – “Better in My Memory” and “Worth It for the Feeling” which is a saccharine crooning track that had folks swaying and melting right into the music. Somewhere in the midst of this part of the set, her projections onscreen behind her began to get even more vibrant and hypnotic – neon swirls in oranges and purples, clips of Grand Theft Auto-style street racing – the best entertainment for the fans.
Picking it up for the tail-end of the set, she pulled out “Read My Mind”, “Girlfriend”, and ended on the perfect note with Salvation’s title track, itself. And in the duration of her set, she did not lose her audience once. They were hooked to her like satellites, Rebecca their center of orbit, and the euphoric, lively, magical feeling in the room was so tactile in the air, it was indescribable. Rebecca Black may be entering her biggest era yet with Salvation, and the Salvation Tour just may be what paves the way for a new era of electro-hyperpop artists to blow up in real time.
(Photos and review by Nina Tadic – follow Nina on Instagram at @ninatadiccreative)
