November 17, 2009 0:26

Rihanna joined by Jay-Z in London

Singer gets a helping hand from her mentor as she launches new album 'Rated R'

Rihanna was joined live on stage by mentor Jay-Z in London tonight (November 16) as she launched new album 'Rated R' at an exclusive live show.

The R&B princess put in a brief but epic performance at Brixton Academy in front of a crowd of competition winners and invited guests. The show was streamed live online by Nokia.

Debuting tracks from 'Rated R', which is released next week, the singer was also joined by rapper Young Jeezy.

Taking the stage at shortly after 8pm, the Barbadian singer emerged onto a stage decked out with vintage television sets and silver mannequins. Wearing black fishnets, a black and silver leotard and a lace mask around her face, she jammed with the live band through album intro 'Madhouse', before playing future single 'Wait Your Turn', the song from which the viral album teaser refrain 'The Wait Is Ova' is taken.

The show then began in earnest with a dramatic rendition of new single 'Russian Roulette', throughout which Rihanna sat on a revolving white chair, before miming shooting herself in the head at the finale.

After a selection of hits from breakthrough record 'Good Girl Gone Bad', Rihanna was then joined by Jeezy for the new album track 'So Hard'.

But the main event was saved for the climax. As the opening strains of her recent Jay-Z collaboration 'Run This Town' opened up, it became apparent that the man himself was in the building, joining Rihanna from the back of the stage to rap his parts on the smash.

Jay-Z remained onstage for his opening sequence on the star’s signature hit 'Umbrella', which brought the show to its dramatic climax.

Rihanna played:

'Madhouse'
'Wait Your Turn'
'Russian Roulette'
'Don’t Stop The Music'
'Take A Bow' / 'Disturbia'
'So Hard'
'Live Your Life'
'Run This Town'
'Umbrella'