Lizzo brings her uplifting, fun and funky musical therapy to Cleveland

CLEVELAND, Ohio – “Y’all know I do this for the big girls. But tonight I’m doing this for Cleveland, Ohio!”

As with her records, a Lizzo concert is not just a show. It’s country-crossing, arena-filling, self-help dance singalong group therapy session with lights, lasers, DJ, taut four-piece band, three backup singers, and eight limber high-energy dancers, a.k.a Lizzo’s Big Grrrrls who want you to believe in and feel good about yourself.

Entering on a riser in a black and gold catsuit with cash pinned to her hair, Lizzo started with the upbeat “The Sign,” the opener of her Grammy-winning album “Special,” followed by “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready).”

Then came the first break in the action, when Lizzo told us it was OK to “be free, be yourself. If you wanna dance. Dance! If you wanna laugh, then giggle b—-!” It was the first of many uses of the “B-word” in all of its most fabulous applications and connotations. Lizzo made sure everyone in the full room at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse was “100% that b—-,” or, if not quite 100%, certainly among the unquestioned worst of.

It was one of the evening’s major themes: be you, do you, love you because, as the star’s hit song says, “you’re special.”

Also special was the fact that the Friday night show was Lizzo’s first performance in Cleveland.

Another theme was self-acceptance, and self-love, typified in the triple shot of “Scuse Me,” “Fitness,” and “Naked,” when Lizzo headed to the tip of the extended stage in a different catsuit onto which images were projected, ending the segment with “Free Your Body” across her body.

By the end of the 26-song, two-hour show, all dozen tracks from “Special” would appear in the setlist as would most of its predecessor “Cuz I Love You,” and the 2016 EP “Coconut Oil” that launched her on her current path of fame, fortune, and musical mass therapy.

With her catalog comprised entirely of sub-four-minute songs, the set’s pace was swift as Lizzo and crew delivered banger after banger with a few breaks built in for audience interaction, costume changes and allowing everyone to catch their breaths.

But even the costume breaks were brief and covered mainly by her crack band “The Lizzbians” who infused several of the short tunes with some appreciated injections of musicianship. Eventually, they were joined by her backup singers, who didn’t show up on stage until about 40 minutes into the show.

There was simply no need for the added visuals, with the large oval screen behind the stage mostly displaying images and video of Lizzo in various song-related guises and a quick cameo from Cardi B, who faced-timed her verse from the funky, defiant “Rumors.”

But the Big Grrrls’ relentless mix of aerobics, street dance, and stripper moves, some of which Lizzo joined in on, especially if it highlighted her proudly prodigious backside, was more than enough onstage action.

Speaking of that backside, it was easily the second most popular performer onstage, as every time Lizzo unleashed its power through a song lyric, a wiggle, or simply by turning it around twerkin’ it in the spotlight. Its every highlighted movement was met with gleeful cheers from the crowd.

“OK, let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” she said semi-seriously before quickly turning around and joking. It’s become a jiggling, non-verbal sequined, cat-suited symbol of the self-confidence and free-to-be-you-and-me vibe Lizzo wants permeating the crowd.

Likewise, Sasha Flute, which played on “Coldplay,” the ‘80s-inflected “Juice,” and a few other tunes, also made several appearances in the set and was a close third in popularity among fans.

Throughout the evening, the crowd was loud and diverse. As expected, there were plenty of Lizzo’s beloved big girls in the house among women of all ages, groups and couples. There were groups of every configuration: girlfriends having a great night out, mom and twin boys, daddy and daughters, besties taking video selfies of themselves scream-singing along.

During “Special,” one of the set’s centerpieces and a reminder of Lizzo’s gospel underpinnings, several folks in my section wiped tears while waving their hands and singing the musical affirmation in the song’s chorus.

During the final audience interaction near the end of the set, after Lizzo and everyone did their head toss, checked their nails and were indeed feeling “Good As Hell.” She read fan signs, took pictures in fan’s hats, shouted specific sections of the nosebleeds seats before bringing it all home with the fun, funky coupling of “Juice” and her record of the year Grammy-winning single “About Damn Time.”

For 27 songs, Lizzo and her all-women crew achieved her stated goal of encouraging her “big girls” and all the other humans in the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse to feel special.