Get Lifted

On Monday night, I got to see John Legend and Corinne Bailey Rae perform at The Theatre at Madison Square Garden with Jessica. Absolutely amazing concert. Both performers really put on a good show and surprisingly, sounded very much like their CDs, which I find to be an irregularity these days with auto-tuning in studios. The other thing that struck me about this concert was the intimate atmosphere that was fostered. Given, the style of music lends itself to that, but it was nice to go to a concert where I wasn't completely deafened by the booming bass.

Most of the concerts I typically go to are hip hop concerts so my expectations of concerts are different. If I go to a hip hop show, I expect to have no hearing at the end of the show; I expect to be standing and jumping around the whole time; I expect that the performance will not start on time; I expect that the actually recreation of the sound qualtiy experienced on the performer's CD will be pretty hit or miss. The concert on Monday defied these expectations.

As I said, the concert had a more intimate atmosphere. I have seen John Legend perform before, but that was as a special guest for a Kanye West show. He was good, but it was a completely different vibe. On Monday, John Legend really blew me away with his performance and stage presence. He did some of the standard concert tricks like inviting a woman on stage to dance with him (note to all performers: bringing up a middle-aged mother to dance with you always makes the crowd go wild), going into the crowd to sing, and calculatingly discarding pieces of clothing throughout the performance. But beyond those typical conceits, he really moved the crowd. I give much credit to his background as a church choir singer and gospel stylings because at times, it did feel like a worship service, in terms of the vibe. But overall, the performance worked because John Legend is straight-up talented and you don't need a lot of bells and whistles to put on a good show if you've got talent.

Corinne Bailey Rae also impressed me. Her music is more low key than Legend's, but she can definitely sing. Her voice is very warm and controlled and her accent doesn't grate on you, but rather complements her well. Though her songs are slower paced, it allows you to focus more on her lyrics which are beautifully detailed. She did most of the songs from her debut album, a couple of new ones which were quite good, and then a couple of covers, including a surprising take on Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You." She also came back for John Legend's set and they sang a duet.

To see the updated list of other concerts that I plan on seeing in the next few months, click here. As always, I'm looking for people to go with me so if you are interested, let me know. I always have extra tickets.