Well, i just came back from Meshell show in Paris & i have mixed feelings
It was musically perfect, but it was a really "quiet" show..
I mean, it was the third time i see her at the exact same place (elysée-Montmartre), but it was the first time i left the building not covered with sweat; it was not the kind of gig you would bounce to, more the kind where you just move nicely your head to the jazzy-hiphop beat ...yeah i just found most of the music was just fucking TOO SLOW. Another critic, is that she gave up the funk-jam party her concerts used to be, the musicians are tight yes, but they really stick to the structure & tempo of the songs as it is on records, which don't leave a lot of space for surprise.

I also felt she wasn't as warm & close to the audience as before, and it's obvious she's just here to perform her songs, but not to do a show (More Miles than James...).
I won't speak about her clothes, cuz i don't wanna say bad things

And really the crowd was hot, really ready to have fun, but it just not really happens.
There was some highlights when she picked up her bass and started "God Fear Money" & some Funk track like "I'm digging you", but it just didn't last long enough.
And WTF Meshell, why do you pick up your bass, play it 2 mn and then just put it back in the rack !!??
You don't play it much now, and we could hardly hear you at times (the mix was pretty good though).
Sometimes i feel she just shouldn't have a second bass player and sing where she can, leaving another vocalist doing the job, or sing her part and let Frederico play the bass on the keys (ala Marcus Miller).

Not that she's not a good vocalist, her singing was really excellent, i just felt the band was really at his highest point when she was just playing, and K'Alyn singing lead (the crowd really seemed to appreciate his voice).
She even played less keyboards (something like 3 mn for the entire show).

The Dj addition was not really a good idea IMHO, the guy was trying to do the Dj Logic thing, but was a bit weak for that I think.
I would have prefer more mucicians on stage than the Dj thing (percussions, horns).

The crowd seemed pretty satisfied in the end (i also saw lots of people leaving before the end, mainly girls btw, maybe they were just going to the loo, i just didn't see them coming back...), but that was definitly not the "orgasmic" show goin' higher & higher i saw years ago.
I could have seat & close my eyes and just listen to the music, i don't think the "experience" would have been really different.
Yeah my friend, it was quiet, i almost feel sleepy ...
Well, it was ok ...

Well said.. I felt the same exact way when I saw her a few months back in the states.. hmm, maybe something is going on in her life that is affecting her? I dunno.. I still love her though

anemone said:

Oh yeah, me too !

great show 2night, was like the last time quiet and warmfull, just passionin her songs : definitly da best!

maybe she was saving her strengths for the party she is hopefully going to throw tonite in Amsterdam! But if the show is going to be jazzy, that's fine too, my date is good-looking!

saw her monday, 25 nov here in Belgium.

Same thing,
beautiful music
but missing something ...
and it was sad to see didn't sing and play the bass at the same time, what's up with that ?

about the dj:
I liked the dj between the warm up and the main show,
he played: when doves cry, sex shooter ...

and at the and of a song he played: "hello how are you, fine fine cus I know that the lord is coming, coming soon"


[This message was edited Wed Nov 27 8:47:28 PST 2002 by EDD]

EDD said:

Yeah he did that in Paris too.
The Purple mix (when doves cry, sex shooter, 777 93 11) seriously warmed the crowd
Did the concert ended with that reggae track with the Police interpolation in it ? then Meshell left the stage and let the band going into some kind of dub and then left the stage one by one and the Dj spinning this much too strong Roni Size jungle track ("Brown paper bag" if i remember well).
That's the werdiest concert ending i've ever seen
Leaving us ready to bounce & in frustration

Actually Me shell sand the "hello, how are you..." from Darling Nikki, but off the mike in Brussels the other nite. She had a smile on her face.

EDD said:

As mentioned at www.freemyheart.com

Why she doesn’t always play and sing at the same time
Question: I went to see Me’Shell NdegéOcello at The Knitting Factory on Sunday. The show was great, but there was a noticable sore spot: she didn’t play and sing at the same time. She only played bass on three out of the 10 songs because of this, and anytime she had to sing, she literally took the bass off. I am a fledgling bassist and a good singer, and I absolutely can’t do both at the same time. The only really good bassists I have ever seen do it are you and Mark King from Level 42.
My question is this: did you start out singing and playing at the same time, or did you gradually introduce singing. Also, when you compose a song, do you automatically begin learning both at the same time, or consecutively. I find it very hard because the bassline often has little to do with what I’m singing, and I’m totally thrown. It gives me a new appreciation for what you do. Thanks in advance for your answer. ~ Lolita Jackson

Answer: I started playing and singing pretty early (and doing steps too!). But after a while I started concentrating on bass only. About ten years ago I started the play/sing thing up again. It takes a lot of practice. I usually try to figure out how the bass and vocal hook up. The other tough thing is singing behind the beat but keeping the bass in the pocket. But it’s fun when you start getting it...
Me’Shell could sing and play if she really wanted to, but it would take a while before she could sing as expressively as she does and still play in the pocket. She sings a lot of stuff against the time and it has a really cool effect. Her basslines are pretty complicated too so I understand why she just says ‘somebody else play bass while I sing.’ ~ Marcus Miller, ’98jul28 @ marcusmiller.com message board

thx suomynona for the clarification.

I thought it was something like that. She's so 'in trance' when singing.

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nickfunk said: Actually Me shell sand the "hello, how are you..." from Darling Nikki, but off the mike in Brussels the other nite. She had a smile on her face
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perhaps because she saw my prince t-shirt ?


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chimchimbadass said: Did the concert ended with that reggae track with the Police interpolation in it ?
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YES, the police was there too

again good concert, bit short, but worth the money (1/5 of NT and she played 1/2 of the time of NT)

we began singing "omeejo oo-ho" before the second encore ...
and were axouis to sing 'it ain't over', but then again, this was a Meshell concert, so we did'nt, it WAS over.

Somehow i got the impression there were more prince fans/npgmc members that monday in brussels than anything else. Actually, i even got the impression that more people were in2 the prince-songs the dj spinned b4 the concert than in2 the concert itself (wich was ok, but not as good as i hoped).