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CONCERT REVIEW: Janelle Monáe @ Johnny Brendas, 3/19
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
CONCERT REVIEW: Janelle Monáe @ Johnny Brendas, 3/19
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| Atlantic Records |
| Janelle Monáe |
I feel bad for you if you didn't go to see Janelle Monáe last night. Watching the pompadoured Goddess of Weird was a rare moment to see an artist on top of her game, right before she hits it. It's like seeing the Boss play the Main Point in the '70s or listening Aretha Franklin right after she signed with Atlantic. And mark my words, Monáe's gonna hit it huge.
Before Monáe appeared onstage, a man in tails and a top hat came on stage to announce that we "should have already Twittered this." Use your 140 characters wisely, people.
The Broadway-trained Monáe, a protégé of Outkast's Big Boi, knows exactly who she wants to be as a performer — and that's everything. At one moment she's a Grace Jones-robot, the next she's a disco queen, the next she's praying to at the rock 'n' roll pantheon, the next she's James Brown.
Hardest working woman in show business? You bet your ass.
It was during "Tightrope," the first single off of her new album Metropolis Suites II & III: The ArchAndroid (out May 18), that she officially became the Granddaughter of Soul, borrowing Brown's phrasing from "Sex Machine," and draping a brocade cape on her slight shoulders.
Monáe doesn't stop moving when she performs. She doesn't stop to talk and left the stage for mere minutes, as if she were a wind-up doll and she needed someone to pull the string. She doesn't just command the mic, she commands the venue. Her arms and legs jerk into position, while her core gyrates fluidily. If they happen to remake Fritz Lang's Metropolis as a musical and need a black female lead to take on Maria, Janelle Monáe is clearly the only choice.
New material from the ArchAndroid dominated the set, boding well for her first full length ("Cold War" was another set stand-out). But we really started to pump when she came out for the encore as Cindi Mayweather, an on-the-run robot, hunted for falling in love with a human, from Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase EP. It was a one-two-three attack of "Sincerely, Jane." "Violent Stars Happy Hunting!!!" and "Many Moons."
The only proper response: Goddamn.
She returned onstage after her encore. "I never talk," she told us. But apparently the Philly crowd was so live she couldn't help herself. So she invited her cohorts from the Wondaland Arts Society so they could sing "All the way turned up" in perfect, gospel-style harmony. "Not everyone will get this," Monáe assured us.
And you, dear reader, weren't there last night to catch it all?
Aw, don't fret too much. Josh Middleton took videos of concert for your viewing pleasure.
Oh man... I was there on Wednesday. Goddamn is right – her dancing alone is unbelievable. The sense I kind of got from the pre-recorded intro was that she was doing "suite II" the first night and "suite III" last night (the album is supposedly comprising parts II and III of the Metropolis series), but it sounds like that wasn't the case, since she did "Tightrope" and "Cold War" on Wednesday well (good thing too.. wouldn't want anybody to miss those.) Also sounds like they might have gotten some of the, er, technical glitches worked out for the second night – the video projections were running off somebody's laptop that kept popping back to the desktop, and then at one point flashed a "running on reserve battery power" warning and shut off – pretty embarrassing for an otherwise super-tight performance.
"Granddaughter of Soul" - Nice!
I still have a serious case of afterglow from that show. The fact that we got that for only $12 still feels like some incredibly kind cosmic mistake.
She really is a star, and it was a privilege to see her in an intimate venue.
So glad that I decided to travel to Philly to visit my college-pal and join her at her first Janelle Monae concert (which blew us both away!) And although she insisted on buying the tickets, it left me feeling like I got over on someone; I've payed $15 to see local artists with 1/4th of the talent that JM has. Plus-the harmonious "W.A.S. Mass Choir, SANG!?" Oh, I got it alright! That show was "Spirit-filled" for me! But, I don't like that she's referred to as "weird". That's something people say when they are uncomfortable but whatever... As long as Janelle Monae is enjoying herself on stage as much as we enjoy rocking with her, then she can expect sold-out shows every time. Looking forward to doing it again on April 9th!
" She doesn't just command the mic, she commands the venue. " ---now that's powerful. Can't wait til 5.18.2010 for the album release, it's going to be sick.
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