Missy Elliott Took the Bay Area ‘Out of This World’ at Oakland Arena

Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott done told us: she is supa fly. Supa dupa fly. So it was no surprise the hip-hop icon soared to stratospheric heights throughout her Out of This World tour stop in front of a nearly sold-out crowd at Oakland Arena on Tuesday, July 9.

In her long-awaited first headlining tour, Missy kept her promise that there would be “no tour like it.” The unique mind that hatched her mold-breaking hit albums and videos across her 30-year career made sure Spaceship757 (the area code of her hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia) landed with all the bells, whistles, hydraulics and pyrotechnics.

I appreciate when an artist commits to a theme for their show. From the simulated spaceship landing on the big screen, enhanced with smoke machines, to Star Wars-style scrolling messages — Missy went all in.

If you’ve ever been to a Cirque du Soleil show, you can tell Missy’s been taking a few notes from the world-renowned circus troupe. Her set starts with a jester-like host informing us of the 75-minute journey we’re about to take. He continues to pop up throughout the night to guide the audience from “planet” to “planet” — or set change to set change.

Missy emerged through the spaceship smoke in a sparkly yellow and silver outfit and helmet to open with her 2019 song “Throw It Back” — though it took a minute to register that. The arena’s sound throughout the entire night wasn’t great; certain songs, like that one, at times sounded more blown out than others. But that didn’t dampen the energy one bit, as the crowd went crazy and her 22 dancers flooded the stage.

Audience members got special wristbands at the door, and as the music played we got to see what they were there to do: They lit up in different colors to the beat. At any given moment, there was a sea of purple or green or red-then-orange lights. It was a dope touch. When she hit the verse “Missy in this bitch / doin’ shit you ain’t never seen” during “Cool Off,” I agreed wholeheartedly.

Over the course of the 32-song setlist, the set and costume changes were smooth and seamless. Missy tapped longtime collaborator and celebrity stylist June Ambrose for her costumes, and every look and scene was a moment. My favorite section was the dark, stormy planet that took us into “Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” featuring a high fashion riff on Missy’s famous trash bag look. (That section also featured Missy’s fiery track “She’s a Bitch,” which was most recently sampled by Cardi B.)

At one point Missy and two dancers took flight on a platform during “Gossip Folks.” Later she’d do a lap around the arena, shaking hands while rapping during her megahit “Work It.”

No matter what hit song she was performing or what moving set-piece was lifting and lowering her, one thing was very apparent: Missy was having FUN. Her choreography was dialed in, and you could see and feel the confidence that makes her Missy Elliott. The show felt triumphant (and deserving of a Las Vegas residency).

During a moment with the audience, she said, “I want y’all to know that I don’t take you for granted,” noting that everyone on the tour — Ciara, Busta Rhymes and Timbaland — have been making music for 20 or more years.

Earlier in the night, R&B star Ciara delivered a high-octane set with nonstop choreography and efficiently served up hits like “Goodies,” “Ride,” “Body Party” and “1,2 Step.” Towards the end of her set, she took a moment to show special affection for the Bay Area, telling the Oakland crowd “this is the town that helped put me on the map” when she started 20 years ago.

She was followed by hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes, who managed to be both high energy and underwhelming. Some of that was the poor sound quality, to be fair. Otherwise, there was a lot of chatter and a heavy emphasis on his 2000s hits. Beat-wise, I suppose it fit the outer space theme, but left me wanting him to “Gimme Some More” — literally. But we did get an attempt at a Journey sing-a-long… for the Bay? It fell flat. In other news, his partner-in-rhyme Spliff Star is still one of the best hype men in the game.

To close the show, Missy’s co-stars emerged one by one — Timbaland to perform their classic “Up Jumps the Boogie”; Busta Rhymes to perform his song “Touch It” with her; and lastly Ciara to bring it home with her feature on “Lose Control.”

After they all took a bow, Missy was left alone on stage. A smoky, lit-up platform raised her in the air and — poof! She was gone. But the feeling of awe, satisfaction and gratitude for the journey to Planet Missy certainly was not.