Story by Jhiermiel “Jahmiel” Showell
The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia held over 20,000 on Halloween night 2014 for Power 99’s annual Powerhouse concert. Everyone from the opening act to the headliners showed that they were born to perform and amaze the masses. With Rap superstar and Philly native Meek Mill rumored to be out of prison already and upcoming Philly rapper Quilly being a headliner & possibly signing to a mainstream label, it was so much hype leading up to and at the concert. Concert host/Power 99 personalities such as DJ Cosmic Kev, Mina SayWhat and Tee Roy introduced some of Hip Hop/R&B’s biggest acts to the stage that night.<
Powerhouse’s Diamonds in Da Rough opening act contest winner was Atlantic City, NJ native Key-Lo who got to perform two of his original songs for the growing crowd.
Next up to start the headliner part of the show was Atlanta’s own K-Camp. He got the crowd started up for the rest of the show by performing his hit singles “Cut Her Off”, “Blessing” and “Oh No.”
West Coast spitter Kid Ink had an amazing dance set for his hit single “Body Language” and other records he performed during his ten minute set.
ATL’s popular trio Migos came out in colorful Versace outfits to go along with the performance of the their break out single. They also made the crowd go crazy when the beat dropped for “Fight Night” when they performed it.
Jeremih changed the mood of the show by bringing the R&B side of the concert out as he made the ladies melt with his break out single “Birthday Sex”. A woman viewer threw her underwear on to the stage and Jeremih dodged out of the way of them. He also performed “Ima Star,” “Down On Me” and “Don’t Tell Em.”
During a set change, Power 99 honored the Taney Dragons, the Philly kids baseball team that won the little league world series.
Afterwards, Bad Boy/Coke Boy artist French Montana got the audience back into their mean mug by performing “Ain’t Worried About Nothing”, “Shot Caller,” “Pop That” and other hit singles. When the set changed for him, the Power 99 youth dance team kept the crowd alive by doing pop dance routines to the worlds top pop/hip hop songs.
R&B crooner, Ne-Yo, showed up halloween ready with skeleton face paint and a haunted band and dancers. Bringing back the r&b mood to the show but with a dark haunted seductive feel for the ladies.
The Snowman, Jeezy, had one of the biggest introductions of the night as Tee Roy brought him out and 20,000 plus people screamed to the too of their lungs. Jeezy talked to the audience as he was dressed in all white and said “its gon snow tonight.” Before he started his performance. Jeezy performed new and classic records during his 25min set up. Jeezy gave a little inspiration to the audience by saying “If your dreams don’t scare you..you aint dreaming big enough homie…”.
Roc Nation artist J Cole hit the stage with his hair grown out into a large afro. We he does that hair style is symbolic for that hes recording a new album. In the meantime we heard him perform records from Cole World and Born Sinner an the crowd showed no signs of being tired after 5 hours into the show.
Many of us were on the edge of our seats as T.I. had stated he would have some surprise performers with him during his set. With his close ties to Meek Mill and rumors of him coming out of jail the viewers were anxious to see if the MMG artist would surprise us. Tip bought out leader of NYC’s new school artists Troy Ave and Dream Chasers artist Omelly to keep his set active.
Two of the worlds biggest R&B stars Chris Brown and Trey Songz had all women single or not in tears as the performed their set together. Chris brought his artist Kid Ink back out to perform their hit single “Show Me.”
The hottest upcoming name in Philly, Quilly came out towards the end of the concert to perform his hit single “Real One” that has been receiving national radio play and he performed other singles off his independent self titled album. The city of philly showed heavy support to one of their own and responded well to the local artist.
To close out the show was rap newcomer and NYC rhymer Bobby Shmurda who made the crowd hype the most out all the performers. Not only is his hit record “Hot Ni**a” number one on the rap charts but T.I, Trey Songz, Chris Brown and Powerhouse’s headliners came back on the stage to do the “Shmoney Dance” with the young artist. The entire crowd broke out into the dance along with the games biggest names.
Philadelphia had a close to perfect night and some of raps biggest stars gave us an unforgettable concert to talk about for weeks to come.
Take a look at some of the concert pictures (photos and story by Jhiermiel “Jahmiel” Showell)
