So how was it?

FREAKING FANTABULOUS!!!!

Ya'll, ya'll, ya'll *smh while smiling* this show was amazing! I highly recommend that if this tour is on the way to your area, try your best to go see Maxwell, Chrisette, and Common.

The show opened with Chrisette. I've been a fan since her "I Am" album was released in 2007. I've always like the sound and texture of her voice and last night she did not disappoint. Like a friend of mine said, it was like listening to the cd but better. She didn't get to sing as many of her songs as I would have liked but I understood since there were three performers.

During her performance there was a bit of a disturbance thanks to yours truly. Basically, I had us sitting in the wrong section even after making sure we got to the venue early. It's easy to mistake 113 for 112 right? *sigh*

Next up was Common (Z's fav performance of the night). Not only is he cute (not that I could see, more on that later) but dude really knows how to get a crowd HYPE!!! He did a mix of some of his songs (that I had completely forgotten about), this hip hop thing where he featured old school rap artists from the east and west coast, and a tribute of sorts to MJ. It was totally wicked yo! Dude even did a little break dancing and free-style. I'd totally hit that. *swoons*

We had to wait a bit (about 30 minutes or so) for Maxwell to come out and perform. During the intermission, I noticed that some point the people sitting to my right had all left their seats. I decided to take advantage of the fact that I wouldn't have to scoot past people and went to use the restroom. I guess I waited too late because as soon as I hovered over the toilet seat, guess what I heard?????? Yeeeeeeeeeeeep, the screams of elated fans as the house lights lowered. Son of b!$%^$!!!!!!!!!

Maxwell's performance was all that and a bag of chips(and dip)!!!! His voice, stage presence, background singers, band, stage gimmicks, and screen show were phenomenal! The big screens (which hadn't been used up until that point) moved around to form two big screens or split into four. One effect I really enjoyed was how he and band were made to look like a singing group in the 60's. This was due in part to their style of dress (tight tuxes for the men and a little short bob wig and off the shoulder dress for the lady) and of course whatever the sound stage engineer dude did.

The stage was also an added treat because it extended beyond the platform into an "X". This was neat because it allowed a good number of people to be close to the stage (I was not one of the lucky ones). Another cool thing was that the stage had built in holes in three spots that allowed him to appear and then disappear. It also had the ability to move members of the band from the main stage (like the drummer) out onto the extended portion.

There wasn't nearly enough time for him to cover all of his music but he did a good job of mixing the old with the new. "This Woman's Work" (or the crying man's song as Z calls it) was beautifully done and "Pretty Wings" was cool because feathers actually fell down into the audience on the floor. Some of his performances were rather open in content. He sang very vocally about sex....as in 'tonight I'm gonna make you my personal sushi' (or something like that). I instantly thought about some of the children I had seen earlier during intermissions and CTFU. Talk about an instant sex ed course.

The only downside to the evening was that the big screens were not used (in our arena anyway) prior to Maxwell's performance so unless you were on the floor ( or had really good eyesight) you couldn't see crap. Oh that and I don't have any pictures to share because I left my camera in the freakin' car! Womp, womp! :( It's just as well. I have pics and video from the Jill Scott concert last year and have yet to do anything with them. Oh, annnnd that I saw a lady walking around all dressed up with pink house shoes on. *blank ass stare* That was not really a down point just more of WTF moment of the evening.

Z: Maybe she has bad ankles or something
Me: So she chooses house shoes to wear....for support *side-eye*
Z: Hey, whatever works
Me: These country mf'ers refuse to let AR be great!
Z:What?
Me: Nothing.

All in all, we had a wonderful time and will definitely go to see this man perform again. He'll be in Memphis on the 20th...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Here's a bit of the performance I picked up on youtube of him in NYC