Rebecca Black Concert at Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall: This May or May Not Be a Joke

There may or may not be a Rebecca Black concert at Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall in June.Some outlets, such as our sister paper in Orange County, have reported the fliers for Black's mall tour are not a joke. The New York Times had reported the same thing but is now backpedaling.If there...

By Martin Cizmar

March 22, 2011

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There may or may not be a Rebecca Black concert at Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall in June.

Some outlets, such as our sister paper in Orange County, have reported the fliers for Black's mall tour are not a joke. The New York Times had reported the same thing but is now backpedaling.

If there is a tour and a stop in Scottsdale, both Black's fans (should there be any) and her haters (all 6.909 billion of them) are going to enjoy it -- if the off-key teen who is the subject of so much online mockery makes it this far before tearfully running off stage and back to obscurity.

I first saw this as a Facebook event created by River Jones, the man behind the local folk label by local that features former New Times covergirl Courtney Marie Andrews. Fashion Square has had some questionable music-related events in the past (read: giving a forum to noted junkie and sometimes rock singer Scott Weiland) but I figured it had to be something funny he made up. Now it's hard to tell.

If Black does perform here there's one person we know will be there: Arizona Republic music critic Ed Masley.

Masley wrote a piece defending the girl and is presumably hanging a poster of Black in his cubicle as we speak. In his piece, Masley recounts Black's activities on the Friday in question with almost in much detail as Black herself, then concludes it's all a joke but still calls it "great":

"The chorus sounds like Ke$ha writing singles for the Disney Channel -- in a good way -- effectively paving the way for a truly ridiculous call and response between Black and a wall of vocalists shouting back "Yeah" to her nasal delivery of "Partyin', partyin'."

I'm not sure how anything could sound like Ke-dollar-sign-h-a "in a good way" but I salute Masley's efforts to make the counterintuitive argument.

And should Black play the show in Scottsdale, I'll see him there.

BTW, in case you're late to this whole story, here is the video -- 33.5 million views and counting.

Update: We've received a statement from the mall, which says there is no show scheduled "at this point" but also doesn't totally dismiss the idea.

Martin -
At this point there is no performance nor officially scheduled date for Rebecca Black to host a concert at Scottsdale Fashion Square. For additional information, visit www.rebeccablackonline.com.
Kind Regards,
Kate Birchler
Sr. Manager, Marketing for Scottsdale Fashion Square

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