music matters

Meshell Ndegeocello returned to Seattle last night to present a set of Gil Scott-Heron material, only 8 months after her last appearance at the Triple Door. She was touring with the same band, with the exception of Keefus Ciancia on keyboards, whose absence was striking. With just bass, drums, and guitar for instrumentation, the songs were given room to breathe, and were more rock and roll than I previously thought.

She appeared confident and comfortable, and was eager(!) to talk in between songs, explaining why each song mattered to her. She was engaging and often funny. The band was in top form, too, and served the material well. Highlights included a very funky take on Who’ll Pay Reparations on My Soul?, an updated The Revolution Will Not be Televised (including pointed lyrics about Sarah Palin and President Obama – “frankly, he’s not that revolutionary”), an extended instrumental ending to Lola, and a short acoustic set featuring just her vocals and guitar on Grace and Beautiful.

As usual, she surprised and challenged the listeners, and provided yet another glimpse into her incredible musical world. If you are able to catch any remaining dates on this tour, I highly recommend doing so, as “The revolution will not be televised…the revolution is gonna be live.”

Set list
Gil’s music:

Where Did the Night Go
The Bottle
Whitey on the Moon
Who’ll Pay Reparations on My Soul?
Cannon Fodder (a song by Eugene McDaniels)
Peace Go With You, Brother (instrumental set to a taped lecture of Dr. Cornel West)
Free Will
Home is Where the Hatred is
The Revolution Will Not be Televised

Meshell’s music:

Die Young
Love You Down
Lola
Grace
Beautiful
Faithful
White Girl
Outside Your Door (encore)

Buy it
Meshell’s music available at Amazon

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010

First ever post is devoted to the October 27 Meshell Ndegeocello concert at the Triple Door in Seattle.  I am a long-time fan, and this was her first full-length Seattle concert in 10 years.  Soon I will write a review of her recent release, Devil’s Halo, but for now, a bit about the show.

It was simply fantastic! Not sure if it was Meshell, the band, the sound equipment, the venue, or all of the above, but it was a better show than the last 2 times I’ve seen her (San Fran ’06 and Whistler ‘08).  The band was tight, the songs flowed easily and were representative of her entire catalogue (except Peace Beyond Passion and Spirit Music), and the crowd was receptive to both old and new material.  She does not often delve into older material, so it was a treat to hear her interpretations of older songs.  The show began promptly at 7:30 PM and ended just after 9 PM.  Meshell was confident, relaxed, and appeared to really enjoy the night.

Here is the set list.  Recordings are listed in italics.

Crying in Your Beer
Devil’s Halo
Bold way to open the show.  Nice and meditative.  Meshell played guitar on this and many others throughout the evening.

Lola
Devil’s Halo
Classic Meshell, emphasizing the expletives in the live setting.

Blood on the Curb
Devil’s Halo

Die Young
Devil’s Halo
First song to use a light show.  Cool star-theme in the background added to the outer-world vibe.  A little slower tempo than on the recording.

Dirty Mind
Dirty Mind (Prince)
Awesome Prince cover with Chris Bruce wailing on guitar.

Article 3
The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams
Frantic, loud, and awesome.

Fool of Me
Bitter
Crowd went wild for her Bitter songs.  Her voice was in great shape.

Love Song #1
Comfort Woman
Good, but perhaps the song with the least energy of the night.  Pretty close to recording.

Solomon
The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams
Spoken word intro by Meshell, including the modified line “For my sons…” (Her second child was born very recently)

Faithful
Bitter

White Girl
Devil’s Halo
Sounded more atmospheric and open than the recording. Very cool.

Dead Ni*** Blvd (Pt. 1)
Cookie: the Anthropological Mixtape
With the extended keyboard solo beginning, it was hard to guess which song was coming.  It was totally reworked and was perhaps the highlight of the show.  Tons of energy with Meshell just totally in complete control of the song and crowd.  Not sure even how to describe it.  Electrified space-funk spoken word poetry.

Fellowship
Comfort Woman

The Sloganeer: Paradise
The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams

Outside Your Door
Plantation Lullabies
Just Meshell on bass/vocals and Chris Bruce on guitar.  Really nice change of pace from the full-band energy.

Mass Transit
Devil’s Halo

Love You Down
Devil’s Halo
Encore.  Crowd was happy for an encore, but wanted more.  Sadly, the house lights came on, so we knew it was over.

The only thing that would have made it 100% perfect would have been a 2nd or 3rd encore featuring a Peace Beyond Passion song or another one from Cookie.  Overall, a very satisfying show.

Meshell’s music available at Amazon

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010