I should preface this by saying John Legend is among my favorite artists right now and is probably my favorite non rapper, ever. I have been dying to see him for the last 3 years, so I was primed for an insanely enjoyable evening.
I was at first annoyed with the lack of people showing up on time for the concert, mostly because I can't imagine being late to a movie, let alone a concert, but whatever, people are just lame. My friend and I had very good seats- first row of the first balcony a little off to the side, so we had a perfect view, really. The first thing to hit the stage was a band and we were introduced to Emily King. The band played a few bars to check the sound and get the beat going. Then Emily King hit the stage. She had some not too nice looking red pants on, but was totally rocking her boots. She said she was from New York and had been writing music for 6 years. Her music was fine, nothing mind blowing, but she had a good vibe to her. She plays guitar and does the same basic two step dance move through her set. Her music has an uplifting vibe with songs about not seeing race and accepting everyone as they are. Her banter isn't special, but she keeps things moving. She plays the first song she ever wrote and it is called "Business Man." She claims to have written it when she was 16 and while the topic feels ambitious for a 16 yr old, I have no reason not to believe her. The song deals with a man who is so wrapped up in his own money making ways that he can't see the misery that surrounds him. Like I said, not groundbreaking, but admirable. She is a pretty girl with a nice voice, but I kept waiting for her to really let loose on the vocals. It felt like she had the big voice, but wasn't sure of it so she kept backing away, opting for the head voice. The head voice sounded fine, but I just wanted that big belty note. Overall she is good, but I believe better things will be in her future. However, she is going to have to learn to not get upstaged by her bass guitar player because that dude was really feeling the music!
After a much too long feeling 25 minute break, the lights dimmed and my attention was brought back to the stage. Now on stage where about 10 people- 3 background singers, a drummer, guitarist, keyboardist, sound maker and 3 amazing horn players. Purple lights helped usher him in. There he was, not very far away from me. He slowly walks to the front of the stage. bowing and blowing kisses before sitting at the piano and taking us through the interlude for "Maxine." he opens with a slower number, which surprised me, but I didn't mind and no one else seemed to either. His band was on point, but never overpowering because Legend's vocals just soared beautifully through the auditorium. He goes through a few tracks before talking to us and when he does talk to to us, he isn't the best conversationalist, but that doesn't bother me, when the music is that good, who needs someone who will talk to me. he played all the big hits, all the best album cuts, a lesser known song he did with a samba artist and did a basic cover song while he introduced his band.
One of the most impressive things about Legend is how seamlessly he moves from playing piano to rocking the party, moving around the stage. He never missed a note as he put his Mike in whatever stand he was using and when he got the piano he just played flawlessly. I personally would have liked to see him behind the piano more, but that is just because I think that instrument is amazing. He emotes incredibly well with the piano and looks so comfortable behind the ivory keys. He doesn't let us in to how or where or why he wrote the songs but no one seemed to mind. The show moved quickly even with all the ballads he has. The audience was eating everything he was feeding us, most of them dancing in their chairs or the aisles. Even the horribly rhythmically challenged couple next to me could not help but get down. Legend wanted us to sing along and often wouldn't sing just encouraging us to sing, especially on "Ordinary People" which was one of the highlights of the show. Also, "Again" was astounding because it was just him and the piano. The lighting was incredible and his band was just spectacular, those horns were so crisp!
John has a song which deals with a soldier coming home from war and wondering where his placed in the world is. What I liked about him performing this song was that he didn't preface it or epilogue it with some anti-war sentiment or even a "Bring the troops" tirade. he simply let the music and pictures do the talking. During the song he had images put up of troops on the projection screen. They were enough for him to get his point across and he handled the song beautifully. It was his closer, well before the encore we all knew was coming. His first encore song was "Show me." I had never even realized the song was a prayer to God until he said so and It made the song make much for sense. He used the moment to talk about a charity for Ghana or Darfur, or another African country in need of help and the song just flowed with emotion. He ended the night with my favorite John Legend song "So High." It will be my wedding song and he again just sang it flawlessly, like everything else that night. I really could not have asked for a better show from a man who should have many many more years and many more tours to come. His music is accessible to everyone, as proven by the very diverse crowd last night and his live shows just bubble over with energy, romance, sexiness and honesty.
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