More Ledisi, less Musiq

I’ve had a busy, concert filled few days. Thursday, I checked out Musiq and Ledisi at the recently restored Warfield in San Francisco. Downstairs is standing room only with some tables, while upstairs is all seated.

There used to be a time when I didn’t mind standing for hours waiting for my favorite artist to perform. These days, if I have a choice between standing or sitting, I’m sitting!

Ledisi hit the stage with extremely high energy, wearing all black and some serious black stiletto boots. I don’t know how she jumped around on stage for almost an hour, but she rocked it. She even made reference to her attire – “I’ve been hanging with Prince! Can’t you tell, I’ve got on my boots!”

I must admit, I’m not a true Ledisi fan. I have a few of her albums on my iPod, and I tried to really get to know her music before the show, but I still wasn’t familiar with many of the songs she sang. It didn’t matter though because I was grooving the entire time she was on stage.

Ledisi gave a heartfelt performance, speaking to the audience about how she really thought about leaving the business, but she pushed on and is now a two-time Grammy-nominated artist. Her voice is funky and jazzy, and she definitely gives her all when she’s performing.

I wish I could say the same about Musiq. I’ve been a fan since Aijuswanaseing and have all his albums. I’ve seen him a few times before and didn’t leave disappointed.

Unfortunately, Musiq wasn’t quite right this time. I don’t know if it was because his band was too loud or if his voice was off. Whatever the case, I left feeling like Ledisi should have been the headliner.

After waiting 52 minutes for him to appear, Musiq began the show with his first single, Just Friends and from there launched into Half Crazy. When he got to For the Night – which is my jam – I felt like he was doing more dancing than singing. I also noticed you couldn’t really hear the backup singers that well.

At one point, he left the stage and came back apologizing for the “technically difficulties.” Whatever those “difficulties” were, they weren’t fixed because the band was still too loud.

Musiq started to lose me when he went into an extended version of Teach Me (off his latest Luvanmusiq). The song went from four minutes to 20 because he decided to take a break and change clothes. While we waited, one of his backup singers introduced the band.
Musiq returned in a new outfit and a piece of candy in his mouth.

He politely ate it (while checking his phone) and the band kept playing Teach Me. Oh, I forgot another reason the song was so long – he decided to have a man moment, explaining why men are the way they are. I didn’t have a problem with that, I just think he should have had this man moment and not changed clothes.

After singing a new version of Who Knows (stick with the old), he went into Don’t Change. That ended up being the best song of the night – and the last song I heard because my friend had to go to work.

I usually stay until the end, but this night, I didn’t feel bad leaving before hearing B.U.D.D.Y. I hope Musiq can overcome those technical difficulties and pull it together for his next show.

***Concert alerts!***

Chante Moore
I saw Ms. Moore when she did a guest appearance for Norman Brown during the JVC Jazz Festival. That woman has pipes, so I can only imagine how great she’s going to sound at Yoshi’s.

Mary J. Blige
I’ve already seen Mary earlier this year and I’m pleased she’s coming back because my seats we horrible for her previous show. If you’ve never seen her, she’s worth every penny. The last two times I saw her, my behind never saw the seat and the last time I felt like I was going to pass out because I was singing and dancing so hard!

Maxwell
He’s back! Well, can you really be back if you haven’t released an album in seven years and still don’t have one out? Nevertheless, he’s touring and I bought my tickets before they went on sale. I just hope he releases a single before he comes to Oakland Oct. 28 and 29.