The summer concert season kicked into high gear on June 7 as Gwen Stefani entertained a crowd of over 9,000 fans with a high-energy show at the John Labatt Centre.

The evening started off with a performance by British DJ Lady Sovereign. It was apparently a very short outing, as I arrived twenty minutes after the start time and she was already done. Her act is said to contain plenty of belching and swearing, which would have likely gone over well with the surprising number of kids under the age of ten in the audience.

Next up was the suddenly infamous Akon. He was preceded by his own DJ, who sported a mohawk and a kilt. It was almost as if he was the offspring of a three-way between Mr. T, “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and M.C. Hammer. He revved-up the crowd by playing samples of an eclectic group of songs, including “Since You've Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson. After a few minutes of this, Akon took the stage.

The hip-hop performer from Senegal has garnered a great deal of publicity over the last several weeks. First he was caught dancing in a very sexually suggestive manner with a 14-year-old girl at one of his shows. More recently, he tossed a fan off the stage.

Now while I wouldn't recognize Akon if he was walking down the street wearing a t-shirt that said “Hi, my name is Akon,” the vast majority of the crowd was quite familiar with his work and were up dancing throughout to songs like “Smack That.”

Akon then told a heart-warming story of the love he shared with a woman, only to have his friends object to it - it turns out she was a stripper. Akon then pleased the ladies in the crowd by removing his shirt because his mother had told him that a relationship must be 50/50, so he thought he should start stripping too.

About the only thing that the audience didn't respond well to during his 40 minute set was a one-song performance by two ladies known as Brick and Lace. They were announced as being part of the family, which I assume means record label. Akon left the stage during this bit, and their short performance was met with general apathy. It left this audience member wondering why you would need special guests during a 40 minute performance.

Next up was the main event of the evening, Gwen Stefani. The show began with the lights all turned out, as spotlights followed her Harajuku girls as they were chased by faux police all around the arena floor. This led to Gwen being revealed behind prison bars on stage, and singing her hit “The Sweet Escape,” with help from Akon. She then followed that with “Rich Girl,” one of the big hits from her first album. Both songs went over huge with the crowd.

Following that Gwen performed four or five of her songs that have not been released as singles, and it was clear that the audience was not nearly as familiar with these tunes. The energy picked up when she performed two more of her most famous ditties “Wind It Up” and “Hollaback Girl”, the latter which saw the crowd take over singing duties during the chorus.

Gwen made sure everyone in the crowd got an up close look, at one point running to the back of the arena and standing atop the production area. She then sang “Cool” while running throughout the lower bowl of the JLC.

There was always something interesting to look at throughout Stefani's 90-minute show. Whether it was the nifty animations on the big screens, the amazing acrobatics of her skilled break dancers, or the red sequined shorts she wore for a few numbers (someone went crazy with a Bedazzler), Gwen showed that she is quite the show woman.

At the end of the show, Gwen invited two young girls who had made an “I love Gwen” sign onto the stage to take a bow with her entire entourage. Luckily Akon had long since left the stage, or else he may have fondled those poor girls and tossed them halfway to Ingersoll.

Hopefully Gwen is in fact a “Hollaback Girl,” and she will hear the hollas of everyone at the JLC and make a return trip to the Forest City.