Arguably the most interesting addition to the Fun Fun Fun schedule, Ginuwine gave an equally fascinating performance to a large, somewhat bewildered crowd at the Blue stage Friday. His set survived on nostalgia and multiple rounds of crowd-baiting three-card Monte. The takeaway? “Wow, that happened.”
Ginuwine’s train has slowed with age (44) and the Aughts’ surge of younger talent such as Usher and Justin Timberlake. Claiming a slight resurgence in the middling career reboot project TGT (with Tank and Tyrese), his Q score lowered to nil until a Parks and Recreation appearance and his inclusion to this year’s festival.
With an energetic “Hell Yeah,” Maryland’s Lothario shook off any notion of nervousness, looking at what was an atypical crowd for a Ninties R&B star. Venturing quickly into the bizarre on “Same Ol G,” Ginuwine eschewed actually singing and became his own hype man, ceding primary vocalist duties to his background singers.
Instead of kicking out the jams, a con commenced – questionable hip-hop and Michael Jackson medleys. There were requisite gyrations as his T-shirt eventually came off. Then finally (finally), as if he were trolling himself, he played a truncated “Pony,” the lone showstopper he could bank on, which abruptly smash cut into Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison.”
With R. Kelly’s Coachella performance alongside Phoenix as a primer, there were home run aspirations here. And yet, an odd lack of trust in his own material created a flagrantly awful set that was simultaneously remarkable. People that witnessed it will remember, “That one time Ginuwine was at Fun Fun Fun Fest.”
Check out our complete Fun Fun Fun Fest coverage.
This article appears in November 7 • 2014.
