This Friday and Saturday.

Graycap23 said:

Oh, dang. I haven't seen her in years.

Apache Cafe.

She still owes me $100 for the alleged show (more like a rehearsal) she put on in Detroit in the Fall.

I was a fan until then...

I gotta look into this my girl loves her.....wait let me think about this

DecaturStone said:

lol.....

Graycap23 said:

Don't waste your time or money.

Dance said:

Why do u say that?

Question for you - which song of Meshell's do you prefer - Boyfriend or The Sloganeer?

Slave2daGroove said:

TANKAEFC said:

Sloganeer 4 me.....

Slave2daGroove said:

what was the date of the show you went to that you didn't like? The reason i ask is that i remember you posting about a detroit show that you went to that you thought was awful. At the time i hadn't heard the show, but i was trying to see if it was an off night for she and the band, OR if you and i just have different tastes in live music.

Since that discussion i have come across an audience recording of a Detroit gig from 11/12/07 that is pretty danm good performance wise. And if THAT's the show that 'turned you off' on her then that definitely answers my question...you and i just have different tastes and expectations in live performances...
a few of the tracks are actually up on her myspace...

http://www.myspace.com/of...degeocello

...i mean listen to the track "Headline and Green" on her myspace which is from that Detroit gig...if you don't think that is some of the coolest most explosive and beautiful creative shit you've heard in a while, well, then we most DEFINITELY have different tastes....cuz that track BY ITSELF blows the roof off of most folks entire shows!!!

but hey, if we have different tastes we have different tastes, i'm cool with that. different strokes for different folks after all...(and after all i know that a lot of the stuff that many folks love these days, i genuinely find kinda boring, lifeless, devoid of true passion & honesty, and lacking & lazy on the creative side... so go figure)...

thats why there's Vanilla & Chocolate after all...(and probably why i tend to go for the Cookies n Cream


.
[Edited 3/8/08 4:13am]

Her promo machine really did some Jedi shit to people. Her fans are in love with the image and the backdrop.

Dance said:

???

Definitely NOT a waste. A good show with great lighting. Just don't expect to hear Boyfriend or any of her earlier songs - the shoe I saw was 2 guitar, 2 bass and drums - primal. She played half the songs from the new disc, which gets rave reviews, critically.

Dance said:

Her recordings are great but I have heard AWFUL, NIGHTMARISH accounts of her live shows.

Cinnie said:

I'm TELLING you...on the whole, it's just the OPPOSITE of what you've heard.
As good as her studio records are, for the most part her LIVE shows are much BETTER. (IMO anyway)

of course, this depends on your tastes and expectations.

If you expect a choreographed, planned to the note, play by numbers set full of her best known 'hits'...then nope, you probably wont like her live shows. If that's what you are looking for, don't even go.

But if you enjoy the the cutting edge rawness of a talented live band, playing with no net, playing off of each other IN the moment, fearlessly not afraid to take chances, not afraid to discover new musical plateaus or to make mistakes, playing mostly new material (new and great material by the way).....if that's what gets you going musically (like it does me) then yeah...most meshell shows will be as good as it gets for you.

That said, there's is no denying she did have a series of a few shows a year or so ago where she really didn't seem to be herself, didn't seem happy, actually seemed physically ill...and it definitely manifested itself in some negative ways, no doubt about it. But those few shows were NOT the norm for her...trust me, i've seen her regularly since 1996, and those few bad gigs i mentioned above were isolated incidents, NOT indicative of her consistently often HIGHLY critically acclaimed live show track record throughout her career....but nevertheless, those few bad shows happened (and sure enough they got more press than her new albums usually do) so she can't take em back. Perhaps those are the shows that someone mentioned to you?

maybe, maybe not.

Again, it depends on what you like to get out of a live musical performance...

You want an artist with a concert that has the smooth seamless slick production and transitions of a vegas or broadway like show, flowing through all the hits, recreating studio tracks 'to the T', consistently show after show? You want to see the splendor and splash of a thrilling music video performed on stage? If you want any of that, then nope, don't go. That just isn't what Meshell does.

You want an artist who will lay it on the line HONESTLY and fearlessly...an artist who is not afraid to explore and create new music on stage and in the moment with the crowd watching? an artist who genuinely feels deeply what she's singing or playing at that moment, an uncompromising artist who will NOT 'go through the motions' of playing some well known hit that no longer moves her for the 100th time...who instead will play something else that DOES inspire her even if its an unknown track...and will play it with such a tangible passion that you can feel too (if you are paying attention of course)? You want that? then YES you oughtta go to a Meshell concert.

think of it this way...think of it as you would the love of your life...

you might think you want someone who gives in to your every need...says yes to whatever you ask for. Always gives you exactly what you expect. Sounds great right? Thats the stuff that dreams are made of right?

but we all know that^ gets tired and old fast. soon becomes uninspiring and devoid of true passion.

the best loves are those that give us some of the things we need & want, but also challenge us by showing us things we weren't aware of, unexpected things from a different perspective...thats how ya both grow and learn and live. and THATS continuously exciting...

for me it is anyway...

so whether you'll enjoy it or not will depend on you and your own preferences & expectations really.

my bet is that Meshell is going to continue blaze her own trail, hits or no hits, fame or no fame, big crowds or small crowds.

i for one wouldn't have it any other way.

.
[Edited 3/8/08 16:28pm]

I think it was the fairly recent botched gigs that I heard about.

Is she back on track?

Cinnie said:

from the show ive seen (In Chicago) and the other recent shows i've heard audio from, i'd say most definitely yes.

again...chances are it will be raw, with she and the band talking to each other in between songs...changing things up, working through things...and chances are the songs will be mostly new stuff, maybe stuff that's not even on any album or officially recorded yet...so if you go you'll get a raw, live, and i feel exhilirating experience...almost like seeing a talented band rehearse (which honestly is just what i look for in a live show)...so yeah in my opinion she's back on track.

I will say that initially some of the early recent sets were kinda short...like a little over an hour (compared to her old shows anyway, which use to often last over two hours easily). But i've noticed on some of the audio i have from some of the most recent gigs that the length is now stretching out again into the 1:45 ish range which is better. Of course i'll always want more more more

.

So I went to see her. The Venue is a lil bit small but was packed. You were not allowed to take any flash pics. She only performed new material 1 or 2 songs from the last CD. It was really tight. Her drummer was a BEAST. You could not make out the keys. But overall a tight performance. She was very good live.

DecaturStone said:

I can live with that. I guess it triggers epileptic seizures in Meshell?

Cinnie said:

yes, can be very dangerous. (she was knocked out by a flash at one show i attended years ago. Thankfully security was good at that gig and they jacked-up the guy who took the pictures and dragged his ass out...good thing too, because it looked like the whole audience was about to rip the dude completely to shreds...and yeah, i probably woulda' helped them too heheh...

Cinnie said:

I never thought about that