Review: Chris Brown and Rihanna at Vector Arena

Rihanna wowed last night's crowd with her music and costumes. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

There was a lot of impractical footwear on display at Vector Arena last night but perhaps that was to be expected given the billing of Chris Brown and Rihanna.

Many of those in attendance looked young enough for the assumption to be made that it was their first concert. If that was the case, they wouldn't have been disappointed.

As two of the hottest young stars on the international music scene at present, Brown and Rihanna, aged just 19 and 20 respectively, showed they already have their performing wings.

First to take the stage was Brown, who descended from the rafters singing his hit Wall to Wall, to ear-piercing screams from the largely female audience.

Joined by his accomplished backing dancers, Brown embarked on a set that barely let up for 70 minutes. An onstage DJ bridged the gaps during the numerous costume changes and allowed Brown to spend time in a bit of banter with the crowd.

"Where are my single ladies at?" he queried following a rendition of Gimme That, before asking the screaming girls to yell out their phone numbers so he could call them.

Given the energy of the performance, the singing was lost at times, but the audience didn't seem to mind.

Brown's dance moves are some of the slickest Vector's stage has seen since Justin Timberlake played there last year.

He does have a voice to match, though, and the times it shone through - in the quieter numbers such as Yo (Excuse Me Miss), he had the audience mesmerised.

Following an intermission it was the turn of Rihanna, the talented beauty from Barbados.

Starting her set from a platform high above the stage, she wowed the crowd with a rendition of Disturbia. As the platform sank lower, her outfit - a dominatrix-style print leotard with thigh-high boots - caught the attention more than her singing.

Rihanna's half of the concert relied more on multimedia theatrics than Brown's had, but her voice also came across more strongly - perhaps because she was relying less on dance moves to impress the crowd.

Her new single Rehab, written, she said, "by a very good friend of mine" - the aforementioned Justin Timberlake - brought the house down.

But the crowning moment was when Brown and Rihanna took to the stage together for a performance of the latter's 2007 smash hit Umbrella.

Two young performers giving a new generation of concert-goers a taste of just what a great concert should be.