It certainly wasn’t a matter of listlessness, as she covered the stage (occasionally navigating a hidden moving sidewalk) like a pro during “Disturbia’’ and “Shut Up And Drive.’’ But it seemed as though she was constantly pushing, unlike the confident power that she brought to the Comcast Center last summer.
Maybe as a result, Rihanna was strongest on the slower numbers.
Her wounded pleading on “Take A Bow’’ closed out the main set, and she began the encore splayed out on a grand piano raised above the stage singing “Love The Way You Lie.’’
And she killed on power ballad par excellence “California King Bed’’ as sparks rained from the ceiling and Boston boy Nuno Bettencourt delivered an appropriately big guitar solo.
But there were other things on her mind, as evidenced by the hard-and-dirty-sex mini-set kicked off by “Nikki.’’ With chains attached to her wrist and ankle as disembodied hands groped her from beneath her riser, “S&M’’ already seemed like a parody of itself even before her dancers began swatting her with pillows and a cushion shaped like a phallus.
While that was cartoon sex, the slow, hard grind of “Skin’’ was far more convincing, up to and including the audience member Rihanna brought on stage to gyrate with.
She was the one who came to the crowd on another Prince song, “Glamorous Life.’’ Banging on timbales, she proved that she was no Sheila E.
For the rest of the show, it seemed she was barely holding on to being Rihanna.
J. Cole had some big shoes to fill - original opener Cee-Lo Green dropped out of the tour earlier - but he was genial and gracious in the role of the soulful, lovelorn rapper.
Marc Hirsh can be reached at officialmarc@gmail.com.
