Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Ciara, Timbaland and more at Barclays Center
On Monday, August 12, 2024, Missy Elliott’s “Out of This World — The Missy Elliott Experience” arrived at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The sold out show was a part of Elliott’s first ever headlining tour. For her first tour as a headliner, Elliott recruited Ciara, Busta Rhymes, and producer Timbaland. Missy, Ciara, and Busta each brought out surprise guests at Barclays. Ciara was joined by Lola Brooke and Lady London for their song, “Da Girls (Girls Mix),” and later Cici brought out Ellie the Elephant, the incredible mascot for the NY Liberty, to dance with her on stage. Busta Rhymes was joined by his hypeman, Spliff Star, his family (after introducing his and Spliff’s children, he jokingly told them to get the fuck off the stage), dancehall artist Ding Dong, his Flipmode Squadmate Rah Digga, and LL Cool J. Busta shared that he and LL hadn’t performed “Flava in Ya Ear (Remix)” live before together, a song released thirty years ago. And Missy brought out surprise guest Lil’ Kim and her tourmates during her set.
Missy’s show was fantastic; the whole experience was wonderful from beginning to end but her production was one of the best I’ve seen of an arena show. It was a spectacle from when she first “landed” on stage until she left. People were cheering so much that she returned to briefly to wave goodbye again. Busta Rhymes noted that the show fell one day after the 51st birthday of hip-hop and it truly felt special being one of the many fans to see the visionary Missy Elliott finally headline her own concert, decades after she debuted and demanded our attention.
I brought along my point and shoot camera to Barclays earlier this month and some images from the show can be found in the above gallery.