Common & N*E*R*D - 10/8 @ Tabernacle
You know, I could've sworn I'd written this one already. But I guess I meant to and never did. So let me play catch up, I suppose.
Figured this would be a fun show, I like Common, I don't mind N*E*R*D and I'd finally get a chance to see what Janelle Monae was all about. And it had also been quite awhile since I've seen a show at the Tabernacle. All in all, I was looking forward to a fun evening.
I got there fairly early and the place was still filling up. It eventually packed out to a near sold out status, but I'm not completely sure about that or not. And no surprise that I ran into a whole host of folks like, Crystal, Calvin, Lisette, Emily, Bem, Keinon, Ricardo, Shannon, Jemario, Tulashi and Angie. But pretty much spent the bulk of my time hanging with Kim and Shalewa. With Common and Pharrell in the house, I knew they would both be in attendance as well.
As I got there earlier than anticipated, I caught the unannounced opening act of Chester French. Some dancey power pop duo that Pharrell really digs and signed to his label. They weren't bad, but they weren't all that great either. They looked like if a grunge era Beck and a nerdy looking Beck were both in the same band. They also tried to act up and cuss a lot, which made them come across even dorkier than they are. Like if some nerdy white kids got invited into the cool hip hop party and tried to front. There's something very Farmer Ted about the both of them. They only played about 15 - 20 minutes, so it was hard to truly come up with an opinion either way.
Then shortly after Janelle Monae took the stage and I finally got a chance to see what the buzz and hype is all about. And I still don't get it. Not to say she is bad, but she's not THAT entertaining. It was a fun performance, but it wasn't enough for me to get all hyped about it. It kind of reminded me of something Cyndi Lauper would've done if she was trying to channel Prince. And for what Janelle is trying to do, a spaced out rock/funk cavalcade, her voice just isn't strong enough in a live setting. She could sing the crap out of a ballad, but not quite up to the uptempo stuff. Although I did like her backing band comprised of all the Andre 3000s from the "Hey Ya!" video. But as I suspected, she's all style without much substance. But if I was coming from a complete hip hop background, it might seem very different and fresh, but it seemed very "been there, done that" to me. Although I probably will keep most of those opinions to myself as I don't want to get attacked by her many uber fans, the Monae-anites. They seem VERY rabid and devoted and wouldn't want any disparaging remarks made about her.
Then it seemed like an hour between Janelle and N*E*R*D, or shall I say Pharrell, because Chad didn't show up for the show. Not that anyone else seemed to care or probably notice. The crowd at the show was here to see N*E*R*D and they weren't disappointed. This was the first time I recall seeing them and they did put on a really good show. Still not a huge fan of them, but I'm very particular on my hip hop & rock combos. But the guys were all over the stage, they had two drummers and at two different occasions, they brought up the audience up on the stage. Once to let the guys act a fool and then it was the ladies turn to shake their stuff. And Pharrell barely made it out of a mob hug once that particular song finished! At one point during their set, they had everyone jumping up and down as I was heading downstairs to pee. You could feel the ceiling shake and creak, it was rather unsettling. And once they were done, about the half the crowd left for the night. Guess everyone was here to see N*E*R*D.
Then it seemed to take ANOTHER hour for Common to get his ass on stage. Granted, it took some time to get the stage set up for the "concept" of the performance, which was a club on stage that would be having a Common concert take place. It was very meta. There were even gals sitting at a bar onstage having drinks during the show. But since I hate skits on CD, I was really irked by having to watch them performed live. And it became less of a hip hop show and more of a dinner show. I think Common might want to spend a little less time in Hollywood. But after his third or fourth "performance piece" in between songs that featured his inner thoughts played out on a track overhead, I had enough and decided to split. If I didn't have to wait until 11:30 for him to start his show, I might've cut him some more slack. So I decided to leave before I got completely pissed off and left while I still enjoyed the show. But I'll give him this, it was probably the best sounding hip hop show I've ever seen at the Tabernacle, so there's that.
Figured this would be a fun show, I like Common, I don't mind N*E*R*D and I'd finally get a chance to see what Janelle Monae was all about. And it had also been quite awhile since I've seen a show at the Tabernacle. All in all, I was looking forward to a fun evening.
I got there fairly early and the place was still filling up. It eventually packed out to a near sold out status, but I'm not completely sure about that or not. And no surprise that I ran into a whole host of folks like, Crystal, Calvin, Lisette, Emily, Bem, Keinon, Ricardo, Shannon, Jemario, Tulashi and Angie. But pretty much spent the bulk of my time hanging with Kim and Shalewa. With Common and Pharrell in the house, I knew they would both be in attendance as well.
As I got there earlier than anticipated, I caught the unannounced opening act of Chester French. Some dancey power pop duo that Pharrell really digs and signed to his label. They weren't bad, but they weren't all that great either. They looked like if a grunge era Beck and a nerdy looking Beck were both in the same band. They also tried to act up and cuss a lot, which made them come across even dorkier than they are. Like if some nerdy white kids got invited into the cool hip hop party and tried to front. There's something very Farmer Ted about the both of them. They only played about 15 - 20 minutes, so it was hard to truly come up with an opinion either way.
Then shortly after Janelle Monae took the stage and I finally got a chance to see what the buzz and hype is all about. And I still don't get it. Not to say she is bad, but she's not THAT entertaining. It was a fun performance, but it wasn't enough for me to get all hyped about it. It kind of reminded me of something Cyndi Lauper would've done if she was trying to channel Prince. And for what Janelle is trying to do, a spaced out rock/funk cavalcade, her voice just isn't strong enough in a live setting. She could sing the crap out of a ballad, but not quite up to the uptempo stuff. Although I did like her backing band comprised of all the Andre 3000s from the "Hey Ya!" video. But as I suspected, she's all style without much substance. But if I was coming from a complete hip hop background, it might seem very different and fresh, but it seemed very "been there, done that" to me. Although I probably will keep most of those opinions to myself as I don't want to get attacked by her many uber fans, the Monae-anites. They seem VERY rabid and devoted and wouldn't want any disparaging remarks made about her.
Then it seemed like an hour between Janelle and N*E*R*D, or shall I say Pharrell, because Chad didn't show up for the show. Not that anyone else seemed to care or probably notice. The crowd at the show was here to see N*E*R*D and they weren't disappointed. This was the first time I recall seeing them and they did put on a really good show. Still not a huge fan of them, but I'm very particular on my hip hop & rock combos. But the guys were all over the stage, they had two drummers and at two different occasions, they brought up the audience up on the stage. Once to let the guys act a fool and then it was the ladies turn to shake their stuff. And Pharrell barely made it out of a mob hug once that particular song finished! At one point during their set, they had everyone jumping up and down as I was heading downstairs to pee. You could feel the ceiling shake and creak, it was rather unsettling. And once they were done, about the half the crowd left for the night. Guess everyone was here to see N*E*R*D.
Then it seemed to take ANOTHER hour for Common to get his ass on stage. Granted, it took some time to get the stage set up for the "concept" of the performance, which was a club on stage that would be having a Common concert take place. It was very meta. There were even gals sitting at a bar onstage having drinks during the show. But since I hate skits on CD, I was really irked by having to watch them performed live. And it became less of a hip hop show and more of a dinner show. I think Common might want to spend a little less time in Hollywood. But after his third or fourth "performance piece" in between songs that featured his inner thoughts played out on a track overhead, I had enough and decided to split. If I didn't have to wait until 11:30 for him to start his show, I might've cut him some more slack. So I decided to leave before I got completely pissed off and left while I still enjoyed the show. But I'll give him this, it was probably the best sounding hip hop show I've ever seen at the Tabernacle, so there's that.