I grew up going to concerts. I have seen more concerts than I can possibly recall here today. I had never in my life seen a concert with a more diverse audience than this show. This is proof that American Idol truly crosses all boundaries. I know the show is passed its peak, but the behemoth is still alive and kicking and totally undeniable. I have never been before and I am told the format changes each year, but this year the Idols performed in order of how they were voted off.
Chikeze: I was a big fan of his on the show and I knew that his downfall was the weekly themes. Opening a show like this, where the crowd is just dying for the top 2, is not easy, but this dude set it off. He only had three songs and he only did 1 song that he performed on the show. I was disappointed he did not do his funky Beatles cover, but his version of Usher's "Caught Up" was perfectly polished. When he started singing John Legend's "So High" I was worried because it is one of my favorite love songs from one of my favorite singers, but Chikeze really nailed it. His falsetto totally blew me away and he set a high standard for the evening.
Ramiele: This was by far the low point of the night. As I sit here now, I cannot recall a single song she sang or even how she performed. I do remember she looked hot, but this was totally forgettable. How she made it into the top 10 was beyond me during the show and it was confirmed here. She is young yes, but she was just out performed by the light show playing on the big screen behind her. Her set could not end soon enough.
Michael Johns: This guy was my pick to win it all from the very first audition. How he left the show so early just shows how stupid America is. Johns was one of only 3 of the Idols who have a voice truly worthy of owning an arena. His Queen songs were perfect as were his other two songs. His bluesy re imagining of a Dolly Parton song was the highlight of the night for me. Michael Johns was born in the wrong decade as he is the prototypical lead singer of a 60s rock band. He needs to be fronting a stadium rock band.
Kristy Lee Cook: Honestly this girl didn't need to sing; she just needed to stand on stage in those amazingly tight jeans and a shirt that give you just a hint of sexy tummy. She did her country thing and her "I love America and the troops" thing, which led to some really inappropriate jokes from me at my seat. She ended with some cowgirl song that featured a lot of her moving her sexy hips from side to side. It was basically awesome and more awesome every time she turned her back to the audience. She didn't have that sexy wavy or curly hair, but with jeans like the ones she had on, it did not matter.
Carly Smithson: Carly opened her set getting her Goth on to Evanessence. It was the perfect song for her. She has a big voice, but she did crack two times during her set and when she talked to the crowd she was kind of an idiot. I enjoyed her performance of Heart's "Crazy on you." She totally killed it, but I think by this time in the show I was just ready for my remaining favorites. I have nothing against this girl, she just doesn't hold my attention well.
Brooke White: The sweetest girl on the planet kept in her comfort zone with a piano and guitar. She didn't do anything amazing, but she preformed well and her talking breaks sounded the most genuine of the night. She has kind of an odd vibe and she probably is not right for such a big venue, but her cover of Coldplay's "Yellow" was one of the more tender moments of the night. Her vocals were stronger than I was anticipating because she was often quiet on the show.
Jason Castro: I have decided this guy just looks stunned all of the time. he seemed the most surprised by the fan reaction maybe because he doesn't understand how girls can like a guy who doesn't seem to ever shower. That being said he performed a version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" that was so odd sounding because he did it the way Jack Johnson would sing that song. He has a nice quality to his voice, but he did seem a bit too overwhelmed by the screaming and squealing by the girls in the house. He played his guitar for all three songs which probably helped him a lot.
Syesha: How this girl finished in the top 3 is beyond me. Her little dress helped though. Hello, Syesha's cleavage, nice to see you, really. Wow. She went through the typical black girl karaoke artists- Rhianna, Alicia Keys and Beyonce. I have never heard a girl who over sings the way this obnoxious girl does. Christina Aguilerra would have thought she did too many runs in the middle of her songs. Seriously girl, it is perfectly okay to just sing a song, honestly it is. She nearly ruined Alicia Keys. Also, "Umbrella" is Rhianna's song and she is the only one who should sing it. We heard her sing it thousands of times last summer and why would anyone else do it? Syesha's stage presence was not nearly as energetic or sassy as I would have thought and if her cleavage had not been so visible I probably would not have paid much attention.
David Archuleta: My disdain for his brand of faux humility is pretty well documented in my household. Nobody who has been singing for his entire life is surprised when people praise his singing. No one who trapped the first American Idolers in an airport to belt out a tune is shocked people like his voice. Archuleta is a fake obnoxious teenager, but dude can flat out sing. On this night, he sang his ass off. I was not a fan of the songs he sang, save for his opener, but he sounded excellent and he managed to make "Apologize" less annoying than listening to the actual song. He commanded the stage pretty well and he knew exactly how to get the crowd to scream and scream and scream and scream. My ears were about to burst when he kept saying "Oh wow guys, this is the loudest yet. Ah shucks, you like me. I am so humbled by my own amazing talent. Thanks for coming to watch he pretend to be grateful." Okay maybe he didn't say it exactly like that. I can't see him being a big star because he is so awkward when he tries to speed things up, see his uncomfortable "Beautiful Girls" run during "Stand by Me." YIKES!
David Cook: I was surprised that no time during the show did they say anything like "Your American Idol: David Cook." Cook is a star and he knows it, which is cool. You get this confident, slightly cocky, but still down to Earth performer ripping through emo-ed out versions of Lionel Ritchie and Michael Jackson. He managed to almost hold my attention during that god awful song American Idol forces him to sing and he straight tore through The Foo Fighters "My Hero." He knows how to work a crowd, spending a lot of time talking and shaking hands. Who knows if the chains of American Idol will be the downfall of David Cook, but he is the first winner of the show who seems to be totally level headed about the whole thing. The girls love him, but more importantly, the women love him too. He truly crosses age barriers.
My vision of how this show would go and how it actually went were very different and left me feeling quite disappointed overall. I had visions of medleys and duets and just a lot of group camaraderie and I got virtually none of that. I enjoyed much of the individual stuff, but I wanted to hear some of these people singing together. I wanted to watch some stage chemistry, instead I got slick over too quickly performances. Why wouldn't they find a way to put the two David's on stage for a little bit? What I listened to where 5 or 6 people singing for a record deal and the others just warming up for recording their albums.
Oh and the only time all 10 were on stage together was for Rhianna's "Please don't stop the music." I am sorry but watching Brooke, Jason, Michael, Carly and David Cook trying to sing and dance to such a song was so funny, I thought I was going to die laughing. Michael Johns and Brooke White should never sing the lines "You hands around my waist." They really shouldn't. That being said, getting to see Kristy Lee Cook back in really really tight jeans made up for it. Seriously, that girl is so sexy.
Showing posts with label concert review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concert review. Show all posts
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Glow in the Dark concert review
I have seen more concerts in my lifetime than I could ever begin to recall, and I have seen many huge rap concerts inside of Arco Arena, but I was extra excited to see this show that consisted of Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D, Rhianna and Kanye West. Until Friday night I had not seen a big arena sized concert in quite a few years and I was missing the big spectacle concert. And, I knew Kanye West was going to give me that spectacle. I mean, he has the biggest ego in the world, how could his show not be massive? All of this excitement came to a full explosion Friday night for one of the most entertaining concerts I have ever been to. On top of all of that, the concert only started 5 minutes late, which is unheard of in a rap concert!
Lupe Fiasco- At 7:05, The lights went dark and I hurried Liz and myself to our seats because I knew Lupe was first (Thanks for the Myspace Bulletin heads up Lupe!). No new rapper has completely won me over this much since Eminem did it in 1998. Lupe came out and performed "Hello Goodbye" which is probably his most surreal song. It sounds like the end of the world is coming and he is on acid. That is the best way I can describe the song. It is just Lupe and his D.J. and none of the monitors. He has a crazy energy and runs all over the stage managing to keep his breathing under control, which is imperative for a rapper who raps at the quick speeds like Lupe. He does 4 songs from the new album and then goes right into "Kick Push" and while the house was not full yet, the second he hit the opening lines of that song. the crowd was in full eruption. He went through 3 songs from album number 1 and then went into a very funny, Vegas style version of "Tokyo, Paris" while his back up singers got in place. My only problem with this song was the girl singing over sang her run at the end, but the crowd totally bought into it, so that was cool. Lupe did some banter with the audience but mostly he was there to set the tone for the night and when he wrapped up with the combination of "Superstar" and a dizzingly fast and hype version of Daydream, he sent the now full crowd into quite a huge frenzy. I would say Lupe did his job, but now I need to see him again as the a headliner in a smaller venue. I think his songs, dealing a lot in social ills, are kind of lost in the massive setting and with only a 30 minute set he didn't get as many songs in as I would have liked.
After Lupe, when the lights came on, I started to look around and I noticed a trend- Girls really like to dress slutty at concerts; It is like Halloween, but without the themes to the sluttiness. Of course, this is not a complaint for the most part. I mean half the girls looked amazing all slutified, but it is the other half that concerned me. This other half looked like rejects from Flavor of Love, Rock of Love or a Shot at love with Tila Tequila. The trick is to only look at the hot sluts. Luckily I have a lot of experiences determining between the two. After 30 minutes of slut watching and listening to that god awful Snoop Dogg, Sensual seduction song, N.E.R.D was ready.
N.E.R.D- These guys blasted onto the stage with a new song that was so drum heavy, I thought my ears were going to pop and start bleeding. The first time Pharrell was shown on the big screen the girls at the arena united for a giant orgasmic like scream and he seemed to revel in it, who wouldn't! The group did not waste a whole lot of time talking to the audience, but they were kind enough to let us know when they were going to play songs off the album coming out in June. The 3 new songs all sounded amazing and I cannot wait to pick up their new album. My favorite new song is called "Everybody nose" and I think it comes in at 120 beats per minute, which is insane live and I was totally rocking out to it. They played "Brain", "Rock Star" and a very kick ass version of "Lap Dance" but off the second album they only played "She Likes to Move". Towards the end of that song. it sounded like Pharrell's voice was giving out and the set ended rather abruptly, without anyone saying good night and it made me wonder if Pharrell did real damage to his vocal chords. Even with that abrupt ending, N.E.R.D put on a very rocking, rollicking show and I was impressed with how Pharrell is not afraid to blend into a group, even though he is actually a huge star in the world of hip-hop.
When the lights came back on, I went back to people watching and reflecting. The usual big rap show has a lot of weed; this show did not. Usually the rapper on stage are encouraging the lighting up int he theater, but none of the guys here were doing that. I was also noticing that I didn't see anyone who appeared to be over the age of 30 there. It was a diverse group, racially, but age wise everyone seemed to be within the 16-28 age group. I was also noticing that, for girls, shorts have become an acceptable form of dressing up. As long as you wear heels with them, it seems like they are perfectly acceptable as something other than just casual wear.
Rhianna- To be honest, this was the part of the night I was not entirely thrilled to watch, but I knew it was coming. Her set up was pretty basic except the glowing "R" in the middle of the stage, but the crowd response to her was awesome. She appeared on stage in a very sexy, black body suit outlined with hot pink and she had on hot pink gloves and looked incredibly sexy. But, I knew she would; it was the singing I was unsure of. However, as she tore through single after single, she held her own pretty well. She did kind of derail the energy of the show with 3 ballads, but the crowd did not seem to mind much. Half way through she changed outfits into this yellow and black number with a sexy hat, but the outfit blended too well with the back up dancers and back up singers for my taste. Rhianna was the most chatty of the bunch, telling us who wrote the songs she sang and what they meant to her. She is very playful on stage and while she is not the best dancer out there, she moves in a way that is pleasant to my eyes. Because she has an album chalk full of singles, she didn't need to worry about singing a song no one knew, and by the time she reached the climax with "Umbrella" the girls in the audience were screaming at decibels I thought would shatter windows.
I knew we were in for a long wait after Rhianna because I read a review of opening night and they said it was about 45 minutes between Rhianna and Kanye West. Liz and I chatted it up most of the time, but I did put in a call to work to find out the fate of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was my pick and I needed a win badly. That is my justification. That obnoxious Snoop song played again leading me to explain to Liz why new Snoop makes me sad because he used to be so good. Now he just sucks. If you like "Sensual Seduction (Which is really called sexual eruption)" don't bother defending it. Actually don't bother talking to me again. I was having trouble waiting because I was excited at the prospect of Kanye, Lupe and Pharrell holding down the stage together. The 3 have formed a group and in my head this was the perfect coming out party.
Kanye West- When the curtain finally raised on Kanye West, it was almost exactly how I envisioned it. Kanye was in the middle of a raised stage, laying down taking in the screams from his adoring public. His show was sci-fi themed and very cinematic. The plot? Kanye is on a space ship that has crash landed on another planet and he is trying to find a way to get back to Earth. He opens with "Good Morning" which I find to be an odd choice because it is not the hype machine artists usually open with. Of course, Kanye West doesn't do anything usual. It takes a couple songs to get the audience fully behind him, but when he goes into "Through the Wire" he has all of us totally with him. Everyone was standing up and remained standing for the entire 85 minute set. And for the entire 85 minutes it was just us and Kanye. His drum heavy band stood in a pit below him and he did not share the stage with anyone. It is Kanye's night; it is Kanye's show and we are all just worshippers at the temple of West. The show hits monumental highs no less than 4 times- "Gold Digger", "Stronger", "Jesus Walks" and "The Good Life". The latter featured a very extended ending, where Kanye worked everyone into such a frenzy I feel like he extended it longer than he had planned because of how crazy the crowd was going for it. However, there was also something deeper going on and it came to a head when Kanye went into the incredibly touching new version of "Hey Mama" that he wrote after his mother passed last year. With a beautiful yet haunting Capella start singing this amazing line "Last night I saw you in my dreams, Now I can't wait to go to sleep" and ending similarly with "This life, is all a dream, an my real life starts when I go to sleep" Kanye delivered the entire song on one knee looking down and making me completely believing he was truly lost in himself at that moment. Next he let Journey's "Don't stop believing" while he sat off to the side thinking about his mother. However, he was not done. His spaceship just needed the brightest light, or the biggest shining star and of course that is Kanye Himself. After about a minute of cool visual effects and a lifted up stage, Kanye was back on Earth and ended the show with a rousing rendition of "Tocuh the Sky."
When the show was over I was immensely satisfied, but felt kind of cheated because I was dying to see Lupe, Kanye and Pharrell together, but I was not totally surprised it didn't happen. Kanye was not about to share the stage with anyone. For 85 minutes it was just him and his microphone. He danced, yelled, got hype and pumped the crowd up without ever really looking at us or talking to us. The show was tightly paced and Kanye was the ring master. A lot of people hate Kanye West because of his ego or how he whines at award shows, but his point is that the world need him. The world needs people who actually say what they feel. I may not buy that premise entirely, but in terms of rap music, we do need Kanye West. he, like Jay-Z, Bridges the gap of critical and chimerical success. People do not want to admit it, but rap music would be completely in the toilet without him. I truly believe that and he proved that tonight. Every single person in that arena loved the entire show. Everyone was out of breath, with sore legs the next day. I 100& spazzed out. It is not something anyone really sees from me these days, as I am a pretty reserved person, but if you ever want to see me just completely lose control, take me to a great rap show. it is euphoric for me and for nearly 5 hours on Friday night, I was in a state of absolute euphoria!
Lupe Fiasco- At 7:05, The lights went dark and I hurried Liz and myself to our seats because I knew Lupe was first (Thanks for the Myspace Bulletin heads up Lupe!). No new rapper has completely won me over this much since Eminem did it in 1998. Lupe came out and performed "Hello Goodbye" which is probably his most surreal song. It sounds like the end of the world is coming and he is on acid. That is the best way I can describe the song. It is just Lupe and his D.J. and none of the monitors. He has a crazy energy and runs all over the stage managing to keep his breathing under control, which is imperative for a rapper who raps at the quick speeds like Lupe. He does 4 songs from the new album and then goes right into "Kick Push" and while the house was not full yet, the second he hit the opening lines of that song. the crowd was in full eruption. He went through 3 songs from album number 1 and then went into a very funny, Vegas style version of "Tokyo, Paris" while his back up singers got in place. My only problem with this song was the girl singing over sang her run at the end, but the crowd totally bought into it, so that was cool. Lupe did some banter with the audience but mostly he was there to set the tone for the night and when he wrapped up with the combination of "Superstar" and a dizzingly fast and hype version of Daydream, he sent the now full crowd into quite a huge frenzy. I would say Lupe did his job, but now I need to see him again as the a headliner in a smaller venue. I think his songs, dealing a lot in social ills, are kind of lost in the massive setting and with only a 30 minute set he didn't get as many songs in as I would have liked.
After Lupe, when the lights came on, I started to look around and I noticed a trend- Girls really like to dress slutty at concerts; It is like Halloween, but without the themes to the sluttiness. Of course, this is not a complaint for the most part. I mean half the girls looked amazing all slutified, but it is the other half that concerned me. This other half looked like rejects from Flavor of Love, Rock of Love or a Shot at love with Tila Tequila. The trick is to only look at the hot sluts. Luckily I have a lot of experiences determining between the two. After 30 minutes of slut watching and listening to that god awful Snoop Dogg, Sensual seduction song, N.E.R.D was ready.
N.E.R.D- These guys blasted onto the stage with a new song that was so drum heavy, I thought my ears were going to pop and start bleeding. The first time Pharrell was shown on the big screen the girls at the arena united for a giant orgasmic like scream and he seemed to revel in it, who wouldn't! The group did not waste a whole lot of time talking to the audience, but they were kind enough to let us know when they were going to play songs off the album coming out in June. The 3 new songs all sounded amazing and I cannot wait to pick up their new album. My favorite new song is called "Everybody nose" and I think it comes in at 120 beats per minute, which is insane live and I was totally rocking out to it. They played "Brain", "Rock Star" and a very kick ass version of "Lap Dance" but off the second album they only played "She Likes to Move". Towards the end of that song. it sounded like Pharrell's voice was giving out and the set ended rather abruptly, without anyone saying good night and it made me wonder if Pharrell did real damage to his vocal chords. Even with that abrupt ending, N.E.R.D put on a very rocking, rollicking show and I was impressed with how Pharrell is not afraid to blend into a group, even though he is actually a huge star in the world of hip-hop.
When the lights came back on, I went back to people watching and reflecting. The usual big rap show has a lot of weed; this show did not. Usually the rapper on stage are encouraging the lighting up int he theater, but none of the guys here were doing that. I was also noticing that I didn't see anyone who appeared to be over the age of 30 there. It was a diverse group, racially, but age wise everyone seemed to be within the 16-28 age group. I was also noticing that, for girls, shorts have become an acceptable form of dressing up. As long as you wear heels with them, it seems like they are perfectly acceptable as something other than just casual wear.
Rhianna- To be honest, this was the part of the night I was not entirely thrilled to watch, but I knew it was coming. Her set up was pretty basic except the glowing "R" in the middle of the stage, but the crowd response to her was awesome. She appeared on stage in a very sexy, black body suit outlined with hot pink and she had on hot pink gloves and looked incredibly sexy. But, I knew she would; it was the singing I was unsure of. However, as she tore through single after single, she held her own pretty well. She did kind of derail the energy of the show with 3 ballads, but the crowd did not seem to mind much. Half way through she changed outfits into this yellow and black number with a sexy hat, but the outfit blended too well with the back up dancers and back up singers for my taste. Rhianna was the most chatty of the bunch, telling us who wrote the songs she sang and what they meant to her. She is very playful on stage and while she is not the best dancer out there, she moves in a way that is pleasant to my eyes. Because she has an album chalk full of singles, she didn't need to worry about singing a song no one knew, and by the time she reached the climax with "Umbrella" the girls in the audience were screaming at decibels I thought would shatter windows.
I knew we were in for a long wait after Rhianna because I read a review of opening night and they said it was about 45 minutes between Rhianna and Kanye West. Liz and I chatted it up most of the time, but I did put in a call to work to find out the fate of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was my pick and I needed a win badly. That is my justification. That obnoxious Snoop song played again leading me to explain to Liz why new Snoop makes me sad because he used to be so good. Now he just sucks. If you like "Sensual Seduction (Which is really called sexual eruption)" don't bother defending it. Actually don't bother talking to me again. I was having trouble waiting because I was excited at the prospect of Kanye, Lupe and Pharrell holding down the stage together. The 3 have formed a group and in my head this was the perfect coming out party.
Kanye West- When the curtain finally raised on Kanye West, it was almost exactly how I envisioned it. Kanye was in the middle of a raised stage, laying down taking in the screams from his adoring public. His show was sci-fi themed and very cinematic. The plot? Kanye is on a space ship that has crash landed on another planet and he is trying to find a way to get back to Earth. He opens with "Good Morning" which I find to be an odd choice because it is not the hype machine artists usually open with. Of course, Kanye West doesn't do anything usual. It takes a couple songs to get the audience fully behind him, but when he goes into "Through the Wire" he has all of us totally with him. Everyone was standing up and remained standing for the entire 85 minute set. And for the entire 85 minutes it was just us and Kanye. His drum heavy band stood in a pit below him and he did not share the stage with anyone. It is Kanye's night; it is Kanye's show and we are all just worshippers at the temple of West. The show hits monumental highs no less than 4 times- "Gold Digger", "Stronger", "Jesus Walks" and "The Good Life". The latter featured a very extended ending, where Kanye worked everyone into such a frenzy I feel like he extended it longer than he had planned because of how crazy the crowd was going for it. However, there was also something deeper going on and it came to a head when Kanye went into the incredibly touching new version of "Hey Mama" that he wrote after his mother passed last year. With a beautiful yet haunting Capella start singing this amazing line "Last night I saw you in my dreams, Now I can't wait to go to sleep" and ending similarly with "This life, is all a dream, an my real life starts when I go to sleep" Kanye delivered the entire song on one knee looking down and making me completely believing he was truly lost in himself at that moment. Next he let Journey's "Don't stop believing" while he sat off to the side thinking about his mother. However, he was not done. His spaceship just needed the brightest light, or the biggest shining star and of course that is Kanye Himself. After about a minute of cool visual effects and a lifted up stage, Kanye was back on Earth and ended the show with a rousing rendition of "Tocuh the Sky."
When the show was over I was immensely satisfied, but felt kind of cheated because I was dying to see Lupe, Kanye and Pharrell together, but I was not totally surprised it didn't happen. Kanye was not about to share the stage with anyone. For 85 minutes it was just him and his microphone. He danced, yelled, got hype and pumped the crowd up without ever really looking at us or talking to us. The show was tightly paced and Kanye was the ring master. A lot of people hate Kanye West because of his ego or how he whines at award shows, but his point is that the world need him. The world needs people who actually say what they feel. I may not buy that premise entirely, but in terms of rap music, we do need Kanye West. he, like Jay-Z, Bridges the gap of critical and chimerical success. People do not want to admit it, but rap music would be completely in the toilet without him. I truly believe that and he proved that tonight. Every single person in that arena loved the entire show. Everyone was out of breath, with sore legs the next day. I 100& spazzed out. It is not something anyone really sees from me these days, as I am a pretty reserved person, but if you ever want to see me just completely lose control, take me to a great rap show. it is euphoric for me and for nearly 5 hours on Friday night, I was in a state of absolute euphoria!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
John Legend concert review
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.
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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