Recap: Erykah Badu and The Roots | Orpheum Theater

Last night was my first Roots and Erykah Badu concert and I was in for a much needed soul, hip hop, funk revival. I had never been to the Orpheum Theater (115 Hamilton Place, Downtown Crossing), which is just off of Tremont street, but it proved to be a great venue for this type of show. The old theater w/ hip hop played to the idea of yin and yang…opposites truly attracted as the blended crowd of patrons were buzzing with the vibe of ‘anticipation’ that something special was about to take place.

(Ummm yeah so I was kinda far from the stage )

The Roots started performing promptly at 7:30 and refused to allow us to stay in our seats with the rendition of “You got me” guitarist Capt. Kirk took it to another level with playing rifts that scaled the walls. They had one serious jam session that went on for quite some time, but no one minded. After only 5 or 6 songs they finished off their set and left the stage. I thought they would do at least a few more songs, but they were probably getting ready for the afterpaty.

After a 40 minute wait with no other acts, or even a DJ on stage, we waited for Erykah to grace us with her prescence. When she finally showed she did so in true dramatic fashion with a beehive wig and black layered mini dress. Very fab.

It is rumored that the beats of her latest album were created completely off of her apple lap top, courtesy of lessons from her young son, so she had the lap top on the stage so just before each song she would press “enter” to drop the beat and then the rest of the band came in. There was other odd behavior; her fascination with beating a drum and touching synthesizer keys for no apparent reason. She seems to be in love with sound at this phase life, but hey...that's why we love her. Strange as she may be at times, but few great artists are every really normal.

To my delight she mixed old favorites like “Mamma’s Gun” with new joints like "Amerykahn Promise", "Soldier" and my new favorite "Master Teacher", even though I had to text somebody for the lyrics that she kept reapeating - for anyone else who goes to her concert and get’s confused it’s “I stay woke” not broke, doke or folk…I really should have listened to the new album before the concert...my bad :)

(Erykah...so beautiful)

She continued to make it a show, with antics like taking off her wig (girl I woulda to, it was hot in the audience, I'm sure it was burning up on the stage!!!) and she demonstrated the complexity of a dysfunctional relationship red ball as she performed "My Eyes are Green". I gotta say though...I was really feeling like she was me and a certain someone (maybe a few certain someones....) were that ball...I know I was not alone in my sentiments.

The entire night I was so proud of Boston, the show was basically sold out with one a few staggering seats here and there, and they stayed on their feet for the entire night despite the rise in the temperature due to the constant body movement.

Was it a perfect performance? Hardly, some songs could have been shorter, she did drop the microphone a few times and things were at times off beat, but overall this experience, though shared by many, was made intimate through her sounds, her words and her lyrics and even though you may not have understood it all you still felt the love, you still felt..."Hip hop…is bigger than religion…hip hop...this on is fa Dilla…"

So fab!