90s House Party with Vanilla Ice and more
Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheatre (AVA), Tucson, AZ, USA, May 25, 2019
by Mary Andrews
The 90s House Party tour was one of the shows that kicked off AVA Amphitheater’s summer season of shows. It was a package of hip-hop and rap acts that had their major success in the 1990s. The tour brought together a few of the best known “90s hip hop icons” including Vanilla Ice, Tone Loc, Coolio, and Rob Base. It was a fun evening for the packed house that included many of the ladies in the audience dancing on stage.
The venue was full of fanny packs, neon clothing, and hoop earrings on Saturday night, all pumped up the nostalgic crowd with ’90s hits. It was perhaps the liveliest crowd assembled at the venue in a while and a good night for the bar.
Tone Loc started the festivities with a 15-20 minute set. His hits “Funky Cold Medina” and “Wild Thang” highlighted the set. The gravely voiced performer quickly invited all the ladies on stage to party with him. He kept things simple with just screens and turntable and a hype man.
Coolio quickly took the stage after the Loc exit. The “Gangster’s Paradise” hitmaker still sports some pointy braids but is otherwise bald. He brought up a drummer, guitarist, and saxophonist despite only having 20 minutes to play. However, that was extended a little bit.
The talented sax player, Jarez, closed the set with Coolio’s 1997 hit record “C U When U Get There.”
Rob Base was the party band of the 1990s. Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock were the American hip hop duo from Harlem. That was true until Rock’s untimely death in 2014. There was a hype man that replaced Rock during this set. The rap duo ignited the crowd well before they got to “It Takes Two.” The set was filled with a medley of older-school rap hits.
Base played the lesser-known hit, “Joy and Pain,” to an overwhelming response, but nothing could match the insanity that was the crowd’s reaction when they played the hall of fame hit, “It Takes Two.”
Vanilla Ice, the biggest name on the bill and the artist who has some modern-day credentials, as a reality TV star. He is a guilty pleasure to some fans as he played himself up as a tough-guy rapper with “Bust a Move” and “Minutes of Power.” He promised a second season of his home-flipping TV series, “The Vanilla Ice Project.”
He brought musicians on stage, which was refreshing. Two DJs and a Travis Barker-like drummer put some thump to Ice’s raspy raps, and he did a respectable job of giving the audience a reason to care over an hour in the set.
“Make some noise if you got your movies at Blockbuster!” Ice asked. “That’s my ’90s people right there.” “I love my ’90s people!” Vanilla Ice shouted several times during his concise set featuring his signature “Ice Ice Baby” groove and well-chosen covers. He queried, “Who wore fanny packs?” to pull together those nostalgic for “block parties back in the day.” There plenty of fans filled nostalgia.
“Who made babies to Ice Ice Baby?” Ice asked, with a smattering of hands going up, before he and beat-makers did the disco-era Wild Cherry hit “Play that Funky Music.” Ice sent out the invitation, “Come up and dance with me. And if you’re dressed up as a Ninja Turtle you better bring it,” he said, making a wry reference to his dance hit “Ninja Rap.” Tone Loc and approximately three-dozen audience members complied, dancing gleefully with the headliner. It was a crowd in favor of having a good time.
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