Hey everyone,

Here is a great article on this past Friday Night's Parade/Sign O The Times Tribute concert that was published in the Washington Post on the day of the show, followed by my review of the show.
http://www.washingtonpost...01426.html

WOW. What a fun night!

Friday, January 4th @ 9:30 Club -- 815 V Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets only $18! Well worth the price of admission. Here is a breakdown:

DJ Dredd spinning Prince tunes from 9:00pm-9:40pm
Deborah Bond (with her band) 9:40pm-10:30pm
30 minutes for set change
Tribute show – 11:00pm-12:50am
DJ Dredd spinning until 2:00am - with all the artists hanging around for pictures/autographs, or just to chat and talk about Prince!!!
There was also a table set up where each artist had cd's/t-shirts for sale. Great promotion for them as well!

Below is a list of all the contributing artists:

Deborah Bond
www.myspace.com/deborahbond

WES Felton (the artist formerly known as W. Ellington Felton)
www.myspace.com/wellingtonfelton

Curt Chambers (singer + guitar)
http://www.myspace.com/curtchambers

Wayna
http://www.myspace.com/waynamusic

Eric Roberson
http://www.myspace.com/ericroberson

Martin Luther
http://www.myspace.com/ma...thermusic

Zwei
http://www.zweidc.com/

Navasha Daya of Fertile Ground
http://www.myspace.com/fe...oundmusic

Bilal Salaam (background vocals)
http://www.myspace.com/bsalaam

Raheem DeVaughn (announced surprise guest performer!)
http://www.myspace.com/de...terprises



A little background: All these artists are friends with each other. They are all from the Washington D.C./Baltimore area, with the exception of Martin Luther who is from San Francisco. They are independent neo-soul artists,who are actual ARTISTS, who write and produce their own music for the most part. Some have had more success than others.



Deborah Bond opened the show with a set of 5 of her own songs. Quite a few people in the audience seemed to know the words and her performance was very enjoyable,although I am not familiar with her. At about 10:20, she asked if were ready for the Prince Tribute, and she said she was going to start it off with something new. "Anybody ever heard of the album "Planet Earth?'" The band launches into a very funky "Chelsea Rodgers!"



The band was amazing, consisting of all local musicians, including Bilal Silaam on background vocals; it was a very professional, very well done gig! All the artists did their homework, and it was very obvious they were true Prince fans. Lots of Prince dance steps, etc. Curt Chambers did amazing guitar work!



Here is a setlist with each artist name that performed:





Christopher Tracy's Parade / WES Felton & Wayna
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man / Curt Chambers
Sign O' the Times / Eric Roberson
Strange Relationship / Martin Luther
– he started off saying his all-time favorite Prince song is "Old Friends 4 Sale"(which he DID play the following night during a solo acoustic set 2 blocks away from9:30 club at Bohemian Caverns, elaborating "…my favorite Prince song, but not the version he put out on `The Vault' with all the Clare Fischer strings and shit but the original one with the cold-ass lyrics!"
Starfish &Coffee / Martin Luther
– amazing acoustic performance!
Girls &Boys / Zwei
– Prince/The Time dance steps included!
Slow Love / Navasha Daya
– great voice!!
Housequake / Navasha Daya
- yes, she and her back up dancers put their foot down on the 1 and jumped up on the 2 –
and never missed a beat!
Mountains /Wayna
Anotherloverholenyohead/ WES Felton
U Got the Look/ Curt Chambers & Deborah Bond
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker / WES Felton & Deborah Bond
Sometimes It Snows In April / Eric Roberson & Curt Chambers
– acoustic of course!
If I Was Your Girlfriend / Eric Roberson & Navasha Daya
Adore / Raheem DeVaughn
– can't say enough about this brother. He turned it out!! The audience went nuts!
Kiss/I Want To Take You Higher/P-Funk jam / Raheem DeVaughn



Peace y'all
[Edited 1/6/08 17:45pm]

wow.

It is cool that something like this went down.
I'll bet it was a lot of fun.
Thanks for posting this.

karlo670 said:

hell yes!!!