Sheila & the E-Train
La Ve Lee, Studio City, CA
Saturday, 30. March 2002

Two shows

The E-Train Band

Sheila E.: drums, wave drum & vocals
Lynn Mabry: vocals
Eddie M.: saxophone & vocals
Kat Dyson: guitar
Tony Boyd: bass
Roseanne Radd: keyboards & vocals

SET LIST (second show):

Protocol (incl. A Love Bizarre horn riff, guitar solo by Kat)
Gospel Song
Street Life
Walking In New York
Closer
Slight Accent
Snippets of Glamorous Life, Merci For The Speed Of A Mad Clown In Summer
(Eddie M. on sax)
A Love Bizarre
Old Worn Shoes (Roseanne Radd vocals)
Heaven Knows
Desert Rose (Sheila on wave drum)
Rituals
Tony B. bass solo, Sheila singing Hallelujah
Sheila E. drum solo incl. first verse of Kiss and a little bit of
Controversy
Virtuosity
Feel Like Making Love / P-Funk (Sheila on guitar)

The first set was similar, just a little bit shorter and without the Prince
songs.

This concert took place at La Ve Lee which is a tiny restaurant/jazz club in
Studio City. The place was in fact so small that the musicians were almost
blocking the way to the restrooms when they left their spots after a solo
and the tables up front were so close they almost touched some of the
instruments which were set up in a corner of the club. There wasn't really a
stage at all. However, all this made it a very special and intimate event
which didn't really feel like a concert but more like an evening with
friends, live music and lots of funny interaction between the musicians and
the audience. Sheila even mentioned that they were just playing and having
fun!

Sheila mainly performed songs from her two albums with E-Train plus a few
cover versions and played mostly drums and also a wave drum and guitar. She
did, of course, one of her powerful trademark drum solos which seem to be
getting better and longer every time!

One of the highlights of the evening was watching her play the wave drum
during Desert Rose (a cover of a Sting song) which is an instrument I had
never seen before. It's some kind of electronic drum and it looks like a
conga on a stand and she was playing it with her fingers and hands getting
all kinds of sounds out of it. It sounded very cool and Sheila, her band and
the audience were totally absorbed in the song and the sounds.

The sheer talent of all the musicians was amazing. They all had their solo
spots in between or during the songs. Eddie M. was tearing apart the songs
once again with his superfunky playing. It was just too bad we had to sit
down during most of the time because the grooves and energy of the music
just made you want to get up and dance. Sheila in fact asked everybody to
get up, dance, clap or snap fingers a couple of times and when we stopped
after a while she knocked on our table telling us to go on.

When asked before the concert if she would play any of her older songs,
Sheila told us no and that she had decided not to but Eddie sneaked in a
little bit of Love Bizarre pretty early in the second show. Sheila seemed a
little surprised at first but then picked it up and even played bits of the
Prince songs Kiss and Controversy. There weren't too many people in the
house who knew the lyrics but she knew for sure where we were at and had us
sing parts of the songs! At one point it even sounded like she started the
drum parts to When You Were Mine and Sign Of The Times but stopped after a
few seconds. Later Sheila mentioned to us that she had been thinking about
what else to play and had Dear Michaelangelo and Baby I'm A Star in mind
but couldn't remember how it goes. Another funny part was when Eddie started
playing snippets of Glamorous Life, Love Bizarre and other songs on the
saxophone and Sheila asked him at one point "Why you gotta play Jerry
Springer?".

Sheila's mom, dad and sister were in the house and Sheila dedicated a couple
of songs to them. Lynn who has a very soulful and strong voice did most of
the singing and mentioned during the first gospel like song that it was
Sheila's mom's favorite who screamed out loud "Yes!".

For the last song Feel Like Making Love which also included a bit of P-Funk
Sheila was playing guitar and reminded everyone to pay the bill and tip the
waiter. Everybody got up to dance and clap along.

As always during these small events everybody was hanging out for a bit
afterwards. We got to talk to Sheila and she told us that she was recording
a new cd which will be pop and not jazz this time.

For pictures of the concert please check:

http://balder.prohosting....eilae.html

I am truly envious right now.

I am praying that one day she decides to do a jam like that here in NY (preferably at the Blue Note).

Looking forward to that pop album you mentioned - hope it wasn't just a tease!!!!

If only Prince and Sheila could do one more album together . . . they both started leaning towards jazz (TRC could really have benefitted form her on drums) . . . just one more album . . .