RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
Alright guys, I'm gonna spoiler this. If you're going to see her on this tour, do yourself a favor and don't read the hidden part of my post. If you're unsure of whether or not to go see her, just take my word and FUCKING DO IT. This was seriously one of the greatest things I've ever experienced, and unlike any show I have ever seen. When I was walking to The Vic I was worried that there was no way it could possibly live up to the hype in my head. Somehow it did all that and more. By all means, if you have ANY chance to see this tour, do it. It is nothing short of magic...
When I walked into the front door, a dude in a suit handed me a “program.” On the front was a big picture of Janelle making the “shh!” gesture with “Janelle Monae insists: After seeing The Electric Tour, please don't tell your friends its shocking secrets...” So once again, your decision to continue reading comes at your own risk. On the back of the program was a list of “The Ten Droid Commandments.” I'll type them all out if somebody wants, but my personal favorite was Commandment II, “If you see your neighbor jamming harder than you, cover his or her jam.” Wisdom to live by. Anyways, as I stood on the floor about ten feet from the center of the stage and took in the extremely diverse, extremely well dressed crowd, I knew this was going to be a special night. Thirty minutes before the opening act (Blah Blah Blah, who were a pretty decent, almost paisley pop trio) people were already dancing to B.O.B. as it played over the PA. The energy in the place (at least where I was) was ridiculous.
After Blah Blah Blah finished, Janelle's crew came out to finish setting up in lab coats while carrying clipboards. The entire stage set up was white with two huge lighting structures along the back. When the lights finally went down, one of the crew members came out to address the crowd. He explained that he was a scientist, and was one of the people in charge of Android #1375 (or whatever number he said), “Known to you as Janelle Monae.” He gave us a speech about letting androids out from time to time in the hopes that they might share their art with the rest of the world or something like that. The crowd ate it up, and when he finished his speech her band took the stage in all white to a deafening reception. It was pretty obvious at this point that the venue was packed with “true believers” so to speak. As the band started playing Suite IV: Electric Overture, three of the dudes in lab coats wheeled out Janelle Monae, who was wearing a straight jacket. They rolled her up to the microphone, helped her get the straightjacket off, and then after she popped a few quick dance moves they went right into Givin' Em What They Love. She was looking absolutely stunning in all white. The groove was INSANELY tight, and the crowd screamed every word along with her like their lives depended on it. We weren't even three minutes into the show and my goosebumps were out of control.
They proceeded to rip through Dance Apocalyptic, Sincerely, Jane, and Q.U.E.E.N. with the crowd attentively eating up every last second of it. Janelle covered just about every inch of the stage and is every bit as hard working up there as anyone I've ever seen. Every time she got a chance to really dance the crowd went nuts. She is absolutely a woman possessed up there. The Electric Lady was probably the highlight of the first half of the show. This was the first of many really great call and response she got going throughout the night. I believe it was during this song that two of the guys in lab coats came to take her away, but she shot them down with some big black and white barber's pole looking laser gun or something. It was pretty cool. Victory followed that, and then a really strong Ghetto Woman dedicated to all of the females in the building.
At this point Janelle slipped out to the side of the stage, and while she was gone her band slowly segued from Ghetto Woman into the Jackson 5's I Want You Back. When she reappeared in a black leather jacket, the place went apeshit. At this point the show kicked into a completely different gear and reached a level that you dream about when you go see a show. An absolutely scorching Cold War followed I Want You Back, and by the time they reached the guitar solo, it was total pandemonium. It was like being at the greatest house party ever thrown. Bodies were slamming into bodies and everyone was dancing like there was no tomorrow, including Janelle. Cold War led right into Tightrope, which ended the first set and left everyone trying to compose themselves after what had just transpired in the previous fifteen minutes. I looked around and didn't even recognize any of the people surrounding me, that's how out of control the dancing was.
The encore kicked off with PrimeTime. The band came out and started playing while Janelle was still offstage. The two backing vocalists came to the front of the stage and led the crowd in the backing vocals from the song while we waited for her. When she emerged (now in a black and white striped jacket), she completely nailed the song, putting the crowd into a trance for the first few verses. Giant cannons shot purple confetti into the air when they got to the guitar solo, and she extended the outro with another call and response that lasted several minutes and had everyone singing at the top of their lungs. She then stood on top of the drum riser with her back to the audience and began reciting bits of the “Dearly Beloved” intro from Prince's Let's Go Crazy. The keyboards swelled around her before they finally tore right into the meat of the song. Prince is one of my all-time heroes (when I was seventeen my friends and I actually performed Let's Go Crazy at our high school talent show), so I have high expectations for someone trying to take on his material, but they absolutely killed it. The place roared with every “Oh no let's go!” and by the end of the song Janelle was on her knees howling in front of her guitarist as he note for note annihilated the guitar solo from the end of the song. The dudes in lab coats reappeared to try to take her away, but she fought them off again.
Let's Go Crazy was followed up by Come Alive (The War of the Roses). It started nicely enough, with everybody carrying on their groove from the previous thirty minutes of insanity, but before turned into another call and response, with extended “la la las” and “low low lows.” After a few minutes of this, she started sticking with “low low lows” and motioning for the crowd to get down. At first people thought she meant to just be quiet, but then she started motioning for people to physically get down. If you're unfamiliar with the Vic Theatre, it has like three tiers of general admission seating, each about fifteen-twenty feet deep, and each one a foot or two higher than the one before. I was on the bottom one, so I can't speak to what happened on the higher ones, but within about ninety seconds she had the entire first level squatting down on the ground in absolute silence. She looked around her, appearing to be making sure the guys in the lab coats weren't coming to get her. She then got down off the stage, and began to walk through the sea of crouched people. Every time she'd walk by a group that would try to get up or make noise, she'd silence them and get them to crouch back down. As she did this, she kept whispering “low low lows” into the microphone, with everyone in the crowd whispering them back to her. As she walked about eighteen from me, you could see she was just completely in a zone. It was unreal. She must have spent five minutes prowling that first level, with the crowd whispering “low low lows” back to her the entire time. By the time she got back to the stage, she kept everyone down and whispering for another minute or two before the band built the song back up and the place erupted into some of the most sheer mayhem I've ever seen at a concert. I seriously thought someone was gonna die dancing, that's how fucking crazy it was. At this point she decided it was time to crowd surf, and proceeded to surf up to to the second tier of the venue as the crowd went totally apocalyptic. When she finally made it back to the stage, three dudes in lab coats finally picked her up and carried her off-stage kicking and screaming, and the band brought the song to a crashing conclusion.
The band left stage, and after a minute or two the main lab coat dude came out and gave another speech about Janelle. Everyone came back out to close the night out with a really pretty, totally appropriate What An Experience. At this point Janelle was in her black and white letterman's jacket, and the song turned into a total celebration. It was the perfect way to end an absolutely perfect show. As every reassembled at the front of the stage for their final bows, the PA blared Purple Haze. When the lights went on, the dude in front of me turned and just shook his head. I smiled at him and just “Right? Holy shit!” I mean, there wasn't much else to be said at that point, really.
I apologize if this is rambling or repetitive. I wanted to write about it tonight while I'm still on Cloud Nine. I'm sure there are some inaccuracies at this point about where and when certain things happened, but I think the general idea is still there. It's possible that the events I witnessed have already begun to grow in grandeur within my own mind, but believe me when I tell you things reached that point of transcendence where you no longer feel like you're at a show and it becomes something so much bigger and more communal than that. Totally unreal.
Lament wrote:Alright guys, I'm gonna spoiler this. If you're going to see her on this tour, do yourself a favor and don't read the hidden part of my post. If you're unsure of whether or not to go see her, just take my word and FUCKING DO IT. This was seriously one of the greatest things I've ever experienced, and unlike any show I have ever seen. When I was walking to The Vic I was worried that there was no way it could possibly live up to the hype in my head. Somehow it did all that and more. By all means, if you have ANY chance to see this tour, do it. It is nothing short of magic...
When I walked into the front door, a dude in a suit handed me a “program.” On the front was a big picture of Janelle making the “shh!” gesture with “Janelle Monae insists: After seeing The Electric Tour, please don't tell your friends its shocking secrets...” So once again, your decision to continue reading comes at your own risk. On the back of the program was a list of “The Ten Droid Commandments.” I'll type them all out if somebody wants, but my personal favorite was Commandment II, “If you see your neighbor jamming harder than you, cover his or her jam.” Wisdom to live by. Anyways, as I stood on the floor about ten feet from the center of the stage and took in the extremely diverse, extremely well dressed crowd, I knew this was going to be a special night. Thirty minutes before the opening act (Blah Blah Blah, who were a pretty decent, almost paisley pop trio) people were already dancing to B.O.B. as it played over the PA. The energy in the place (at least where I was) was ridiculous.
After Blah Blah Blah finished, Janelle's crew came out to finish setting up in lab coats while carrying clipboards. The entire stage set up was white with two huge lighting structures along the back. When the lights finally went down, one of the crew members came out to address the crowd. He explained that he was a scientist, and was one of the people in charge of Android #1375 (or whatever number he said), “Known to you as Janelle Monae.” He gave us a speech about letting androids out from time to time in the hopes that they might share their art with the rest of the world or something like that. The crowd ate it up, and when he finished his speech her band took the stage in all white to a deafening reception. It was pretty obvious at this point that the venue was packed with “true believers” so to speak. As the band started playing Suite IV: Electric Overture, three of the dudes in lab coats wheeled out Janelle Monae, who was wearing a straight jacket. They rolled her up to the microphone, helped her get the straightjacket off, and then after she popped a few quick dance moves they went right into Givin' Em What They Love. She was looking absolutely stunning in all white. The groove was INSANELY tight, and the crowd screamed every word along with her like their lives depended on it. We weren't even three minutes into the show and my goosebumps were out of control.
They proceeded to rip through Dance Apocalyptic, Sincerely, Jane, and Q.U.E.E.N. with the crowd attentively eating up every last second of it. Janelle covered just about every inch of the stage and is every bit as hard working up there as anyone I've ever seen. Every time she got a chance to really dance the crowd went nuts. She is absolutely a woman possessed up there. The Electric Lady was probably the highlight of the first half of the show. This was the first of many really great call and response she got going throughout the night. I believe it was during this song that two of the guys in lab coats came to take her away, but she shot them down with some big black and white barber's pole looking laser gun or something. It was pretty cool. Victory followed that, and then a really strong Ghetto Woman dedicated to all of the females in the building.
At this point Janelle slipped out to the side of the stage, and while she was gone her band slowly segued from Ghetto Woman into the Jackson 5's I Want You Back. When she reappeared in a black leather jacket, the place went apeshit. At this point the show kicked into a completely different gear and reached a level that you dream about when you go see a show. An absolutely scorching Cold War followed I Want You Back, and by the time they reached the guitar solo, it was total pandemonium. It was like being at the greatest house party ever thrown. Bodies were slamming into bodies and everyone was dancing like there was no tomorrow, including Janelle. Cold War led right into Tightrope, which ended the first set and left everyone trying to compose themselves after what had just transpired in the previous fifteen minutes. I looked around and didn't even recognize any of the people surrounding me, that's how out of control the dancing was.
The encore kicked off with PrimeTime. The band came out and started playing while Janelle was still offstage. The two backing vocalists came to the front of the stage and led the crowd in the backing vocals from the song while we waited for her. When she emerged (now in a black and white striped jacket), she completely nailed the song, putting the crowd into a trance for the first few verses. Giant cannons shot purple confetti into the air when they got to the guitar solo, and she extended the outro with another call and response that lasted several minutes and had everyone singing at the top of their lungs. She then stood on top of the drum riser with her back to the audience and began reciting bits of the “Dearly Beloved” intro from Prince's Let's Go Crazy. The keyboards swelled around her before they finally tore right into the meat of the song. Prince is one of my all-time heroes (when I was seventeen my friends and I actually performed Let's Go Crazy at our high school talent show), so I have high expectations for someone trying to take on his material, but they absolutely killed it. The place roared with every “Oh no let's go!” and by the end of the song Janelle was on her knees howling in front of her guitarist as he note for note annihilated the guitar solo from the end of the song. The dudes in lab coats reappeared to try to take her away, but she fought them off again.
Let's Go Crazy was followed up by Come Alive (The War of the Roses). It started nicely enough, with everybody carrying on their groove from the previous thirty minutes of insanity, but before turned into another call and response, with extended “la la las” and “low low lows.” After a few minutes of this, she started sticking with “low low lows” and motioning for the crowd to get down. At first people thought she meant to just be quiet, but then she started motioning for people to physically get down. If you're unfamiliar with the Vic Theatre, it has like three tiers of general admission seating, each about fifteen-twenty feet deep, and each one a foot or two higher than the one before. I was on the bottom one, so I can't speak to what happened on the higher ones, but within about ninety seconds she had the entire first level squatting down on the ground in absolute silence. She looked around her, appearing to be making sure the guys in the lab coats weren't coming to get her. She then got down off the stage, and began to walk through the sea of crouched people. Every time she'd walk by a group that would try to get up or make noise, she'd silence them and get them to crouch back down. As she did this, she kept whispering “low low lows” into the microphone, with everyone in the crowd whispering them back to her. As she walked about eighteen from me, you could see she was just completely in a zone. It was unreal. She must have spent five minutes prowling that first level, with the crowd whispering “low low lows” back to her the entire time. By the time she got back to the stage, she kept everyone down and whispering for another minute or two before the band built the song back up and the place erupted into some of the most sheer mayhem I've ever seen at a concert. I seriously thought someone was gonna die dancing, that's how fucking crazy it was. At this point she decided it was time to crowd surf, and proceeded to surf up to to the second tier of the venue as the crowd went totally apocalyptic. When she finally made it back to the stage, three dudes in lab coats finally picked her up and carried her off-stage kicking and screaming, and the band brought the song to a crashing conclusion.
The band left stage, and after a minute or two the main lab coat dude came out and gave another speech about Janelle. Everyone came back out to close the night out with a really pretty, totally appropriate What An Experience. At this point Janelle was in her black and white letterman's jacket, and the song turned into a total celebration. It was the perfect way to end an absolutely perfect show. As every reassembled at the front of the stage for their final bows, the PA blared Purple Haze. When the lights went on, the dude in front of me turned and just shook his head. I smiled at him and just “Right? Holy shit!” I mean, there wasn't much else to be said at that point, really.
I apologize if this is rambling or repetitive. I wanted to write about it tonight while I'm still on Cloud Nine. I'm sure there are some inaccuracies at this point about where and when certain things happened, but I think the general idea is still there. It's possible that the events I witnessed have already begun to grow in grandeur within my own mind, but believe me when I tell you things reached that point of transcendence where you no longer feel like you're at a show and it becomes something so much bigger and more communal than that. Totally unreal.
This writeup made my day
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
It's always relatively difficult to pull off a great SNL set b/c of the sound and small size of the stage... but she was great of course. Especially on "Electric Lady." Good exposure for her.
All the birds and the bees
Dancing with the freaks in the trees.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
Lament wrote:I defy you to name an artist in 2013 with a greater to potential fundamentally alter the DNA of pop music going forward. Her records are like like pop alchemy on the grandest scale. I have a hard time taking anyone seriously if they aren't at the very least intrigued by what she's doing. We may be watching the most exciting artist of her era come into her own right now.
lament said it best. she's a special lady.
Malloy wrote:making this place inhospitable to posting is really the only move left.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
believe me when I tell you things reached that point of transcendence where you no longer feel like you're at a show and it becomes something so much bigger and more communal than that.
You mean, kinda like when you're at a Pearl Jam show and "Alive" starts up and you hi-five the frat broz in the row behind you?
When I was going through it I definitely thought that it was no wonder you liked it so much--there's more than a little Motown in some of those arrangements.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
'Electric Lady' the song is so fucking great. Dat groove.
RisingTides wrote:There is more kindness on the internet than we would care to admit to ourselves. Sometimes we are so afraid of falling victim to a ruse, we miss out on actual opportunities.
