Rihanna ‘sells out the stadium’

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Rihanna. DHA photo

Istanbul’s İnönü Stadium hosted Rihanna on May 30 as part of her Diamonds World Tour. Rihanna opened the concert with “Phresh Out The Runway,” a new song from her Unapologetic album, and closed the concert with “Diamonds.” The İnönü Stadium welcomed 35,000 people for the concert, which lasted an hour and a half.

The beginning of the concert the song list focused on Rihanna’s hip-hop songs such as “Birthday Cake,” “Talk That Talk,” “Pour It Up,” and “Numb,” which she recorded with Eminem. The latter was marked by a guitar solo performance by Nuno Bettencourt.

Rihanna, who previously came to Istanbul for a concert in 2010, said she was here before and noted that there were not as many people watching then. “We are 35,000 people here tonight,” she said, thanking her Turkish fans and adding that Istanbul had always welcomed her in the best ways.

Singing with Rihanna

While she sang her songs the entire stadium accompanied her. The songs she performed included “Where Have You Been?” “We Found Love,” What’s My Name?” “Only Girl,” and “S&M.”

The audience also got the chance to hear some of the alternative concert versions of songs such as “Rockstar,” which once again featured Bettencourt’s guitar solo.

Rihanna ended the show with two hit “Unapologetic” album songs. She left the stage and then came back to sing “Stay,” which she originally sang with Mikky Ekko, and rounded off with “Diamonds.”

According to Anatolia news agency Rihanna came to Istanbul at 6 p.m. in her plane, and took the yacht from Ataköy Marina to her hotel.

Later on, Rihanna shared some of the pictures of the night, saying “I sold out stadiums,” referring to the İnönü Stadium tickets that had been sold out for the concert.

After Istanbul, Rihanna is expected to have a concert in Barcelona, Spain.