Keipher McKennie, Kevin Mazur/WireImageBobby Brown gave a short, emotional speech referencing his "hard times" as he took the stage in Los Angeles on Saturday, in what marked his official public appearance since the hospitalization of his daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, who remains in a medically induced coma and continues to fight for her life across the country.
The 46-year-old R&B singer performed songs such as "Don't Be Cruel" and "On Our Own" for a cheering crowd at the 2015 Soul Food Festival, exactly 70 days after the 22-year-old was found unconscious in a filled bathtub at her home near Atlanta.
"I must tell ya'll, this feels, this feels, this feels really, really, really really good," Bobby said on stage at the festival, as seen in a video posted by TMZ. "I wanna thank all of y'all for coming out tonight, you know, and supporting me and my family."
"You know, rough times are rough times. Hard times are hard times," he added. "I don't know what the hell I'm going through right now, but I'm giving it to God and letting him deal with it."
Bobbi Kristina, Bobby's only child with the late Whitney Houston, was hospitalized on Jan. 31. Bobby and other family members rushed to her bedside. In a statement, he called for privacy. He and her other loved ones have visited her often over the past few months.
At the Soul Food Festival, as he stepped into the front passenger side of an SUV, Bobby told TMZ on-camera that he was headed back to Atlanta "right now."
He was also asked, "If the organizers would have let you, would you have backed down?"
"Never," he said. "I don't back out of a performance."
Bobby had in February, almost a month after Bobbi Kristina's hospitalization, announced he was postponing a mini tour in Australia, from March to May.
His participation at the festival was announced last month in a press release, although it is unclear when plans for his appearance were arranged and signed.
At the festival, he also promoted his Bobby Brown Foods brand of barbecue and seasonings. As seen in a video posted by The Daily Mail, at one point while he was onstage, he told the crowd to check out his booth.
Today is the day! Meet @KingBobbyBrown & sample @BobbyBrownFoods at the Soul Food festival in LA! #bobbyq pic.twitter.com/6eAhNfynjc
? Bobby Brown Foods (@BobbyBrownFoods) April 11, 2015Bobbi Kristina was transferred from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility in March, two weeks after she turned 22. She remains on life support.
"There's not a great deal of hope," her 81-year-old grandmother Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother, told New York's WBLS FM radio two weeks ago, adding, "So I'm asking everyone to pray to the Lord, who we know can do something about it."