I wish I had been able to listen to Chrisette's entire performance, but my focus was on getting to my seat (a nice long journey, but when you make a last minute decision to go to a concert out of town what more can you expect). I listened to her sing Epiphany while I bought a concert t-shirt and from what I could hear, mind you, I'm surrounded by hordes of people within the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, she sang beautifully! Now, I had not listened to her latest cd, so I did not know the titles of all the songs she sang. However, I know that when she sang "Fragile" and "I'm Okay" I got chills! She sang those into submission....if I hadn't been in the nosebleed section during this part of the show, I would have stood up and stomped my feet! If you have the opportunity to see her live, I suggest you go because she sounds spectacular! She sings the song, she does not yell the song at the listener, lol...
Now, I've seen this next artist perform live a few years back during a tour with John Legend and De La Soul. He gave his all during the performance and I can honestly say that Common gave his all during this performance. He was on stage for a while (and I did not mind at all!); I think he performed more songs than Maxwell, I could be wrong. He started the show with "Forever Begins" which got me rocking my head and by the time he told everyone to "Go" and "Testify", I was waving my hands and dancing in my seat (like I said, I was so far up there was no way that I was about to stand up and dance, lol). I love all his songs, but I was waiting for one song in particular and the man did it! Once the beat for "Punch Drunk Love" started up, folks lost it and everyone was hyped! He singled out a woman in the audience (and I was instantly envious...) and performed "Come Close" to the music from D'Angelo's "Lady". It was an endearing performance, especially when he started to sing a little of the original song, lol...The entire audience appreciated a MJ interlude where the DJ played "The Way You Make Me Feel" and when Common came back to the stage he went into a tribute to hip hop, performing bits and pieces of some of the classics (I would have written down the titles, but I was feeling to good to be worried about that at the time, lol). The atmosphere was pretty electric; everyone was loving the hip hop tribute and when Common started to break dance folks stood up and rooted him on! The man is in great shape *wink*...My suggestion is, as it was with Chrisette Michelle, if you get the chance to see Common perform live, GO SEE HIM!
To round out an evening of great music, the man of the hour walked out onto the stage and roar of the crowd was awesome! At this point, I reached for my camera, since I was able to move to a club seating area (thanks to Reads4Pleasure, a fellow Twitter person!), however I realized that I lost my camera! So I had to trace my steps back to the mezzanine seats. Luckily, my camera was laying underneath my original seat (Thank you God!) So I rush back to my new seat just in time to watch Maxwell perform one of my all time favorites "Get To Know Ya". Maxwell and the live band sounded GREAT together! I've always loved that particular song because it is so smooth and the horns set it off...hearing it live made it that much more great! I was looking forward to hearing quite a few of my favorites and for the most part Maxwell had me covered. Of course I wanted to hear songs from his new cd, but it was great to hear some classic Maxwell, like "Til The Cops Come Knockin'", "Ascension", and "Lifetime". There were wonderful moments where the entire audience, probably hundreds, if not thousands, of people singing along. He was very interactive with the audience, very energetic. He performed two of my favorite songs from his new cd, "Cold" (I love the latin sound and hearing it live made me wanna dance with somebody!) and "Playing Possum" (the guitar in this song grabs my heart every time I hear it!). I loved the stage setup, especially the starry projection on the stage screens (that made the performance even more touching). While I would have loved it if he had performed "Whenever, Wherever, Whatever", "Suitelady", "This Woman's Work", and "Stop the World", I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Of course he performed "Bad Habits", with the lights low and Maxwell crooning, you better believe that this is a show to see with the one you love...I had to laugh 'cause he told the fellas in the audience that he was setting them up to get some love and he most definitely was. There was such a sensual feel to his portion of the show. He ended the show with "Pretty Wings" and received audience participation because everyone was singing the song with him. It was a great performance, especially when the "feathers" fell from above. And I was tempted to leave the area where I was seated to go down to the floor and grab some "feathers" but after really looking, I could tell it was paper, lol...
All around, I have to say that this was a wonderful concert and I suggest that you the next tour. This show left me feeling wonderful and I am so glad I decided to go! I floated all the way home! If you missed this one, I'm sure there will be another tour since Maxwell's second cd in the trilogy comes out next year.
(Chrisette Michele photo courtesy of Odellia via Photobucket)
(Common photo courtesy of famefatale_photos via Photobucket)(Maxwell photo courtesy of kalikarla via Photobucket)
