mjscarousal said:

missfee said:

You can say that again. Anytime an audience is all hyped up over that goat trodding Trey Songz and yet start yawning during D'Angelo's set just because he didn't perform his recognizable hits is blashemy. However, I do agree with Cynickill that he should had at least released some singles or an album first before agreeing to do a tour, or at least performing to an all R&B type crowd first...but somehow, I don't think the reaction would had been that much better. D's music and performing caliber these days are for those who truly appreciate great music and are open to hearing or use to enjoying a wide range of music.

PRETTY MUCH

D angelo is not for a casual music listener and judging by that audience who raved about Trey Songz they probably ONLY listen to the radio.. which says it all right there

That's what it boils down to. Sure we can look at his past and the things that occured during his hitaus, but when you get right down to it, this hate and criticism is coming from cookie-cutter folks. Whether he comes out with the album or not, D'Angelo is not for the faint of heart. It just so happens they look at him with rose-colored glasses, dismissing him as this "R&B sex god."

silverchild said:

mjscarousal said:

PRETTY MUCH

D angelo is not for a casual music listener and judging by that audience who raved about Trey Songz they probably ONLY listen to the radio.. which says it all right there

That's what it boils down to. Sure we can look at his past and the things that occured during his hitaus, but when you get right down to it, this hate and criticism is coming from cookie-cutter folks. Whether he comes out with the album or not, D'Angelo is not for the faint of heart. It just so happens they look at him with rose-colored glasses, dismissing him as this "R&B sex god."

Exactlyy ...... D angelo has been SALING OUT shows, getting GOOD reviews for them and then he goes to the Essence Music Festival where the crowd consists of folks who wouldnt know good music if it hit them in the face and gets tomatoes thrown at him and now people want to say

D angelo is washed up

Relying on a audience whose music library consists of Trey, Chris, Rihanna, Bey... etc is not really a fair assessment on D angelos future in music.

mjscarousal said:

silverchild said:

That's what it boils down to. Sure we can look at his past and the things that occured during his hitaus, but when you get right down to it, this hate and criticism is coming from cookie-cutter folks. Whether he comes out with the album or not, D'Angelo is not for the faint of heart. It just so happens they look at him with rose-colored glasses, dismissing him as this "R&B sex god."

Exactlyy ...... D angelo has been SALING OUT shows, getting GOOD reviews for them and then he goes to the Essence Music Festival where the crowd consists of folks who wouldnt know good music if it hit them in the face and gets tomatoes thrown at him and now people want to say

D angelo is washed up

Relying on a audience whose music library consists of Trey, Chris, Rihanna, Bey... etc is not really a fair assessment on D angelos future in music.

Shaolin325 said:

.
I may be the exception here, but what truly makes a concert experience enjoyable for me is the sing-a-long. (yes I'm one of those people). So while I'm open to new music I also need you to perform songs that got me hooked on you in the first place, especially if I'm seeing you for the first time. This is less important if I've seen multiple times.

On his european tour & even last night @ the North Sea Jazz Fest. the crowds we're jamming & into it & not 1 bad review. It figures that in the states @ his 1st big gig he gets a bad review...the crowd doesn't know Playa Playa or Chicken Grease? Fuck outta here...fairweather crowd.

Essence Music Festival 20...HOTOVIDEO]

After his much anticipated performance at the BET Awards last week, D’Angelo pleases his fans at the 2012 Essence Music Festival.

Watch video of the crooner below.

ALSO CHECK OUT HIS OTHER PERFORMANCE ‘SH*T, DAMN, MOTHERF*CKER’

Do you think D’Angelo can ever reclaim his “neo-soul” throne?

Fortunately in this day and age, we don't need to rely on flakey and contradicting reviews to know the deal. Youtube can show us what went down. And from all the footage so far, D is bringing the A game to the stage every night.

Fans of him in the Voodoo era generally are really digging this start of his comeback.

Chaka's set got cut short because Miss Franklin's appearance turned into a circus, featuring an extended set that ran longer than scheduled and a special ceremony in the middle of her set where she was presented with a number of awards. All of which led to Chaka taking the stage after 1am and only being able to do a half hour show.

A cheerleader for God: Contemporary gospel singer and choir leader Kirk Franklin opened the show displaying the energy and moves of a man half his 42 years. Wearing a black sport jacket that covered a white T shirt with a giant YSL logo, he leaped. bounced and twirled across the stage while nominally conducting the very self-directed singers and band behind him. He didn't even need to sing much — his speaking voice sounded hoarse — because the audience and singers onstage performed that task admirably on songs such as Imagine Me, Silver and Gold and I Smile. His role was to be a cheerleader for God, and he succeeded. After mildly complaining several times that his performing slot had been halved to 30 minutes, he sat at an electronic keyboard and teases the crowd with snippets of songs "that I was going to do if I had an hour."

Church of soul: Anthony Hamilton adopted several guises during his compact, potent set including hard-charging soul man for Cool, Sucka for You and I'm a Survivor, and smooth, sexy crooner for The Point of It All and Best of Me. But it was his final, set closing persona — manic street preacher — that cemented one of the festival's finest sets. Hamilton doffed his gray jacket, grabbed a tambourine, let loose a Wilson Picket scream and plunged into the gospel rave up Prayin' for You. Singing and shouting like a man possessed, he waded into the audience, stomping and contorting his face into a mask of feral intensity as the band urged him on from the lip of the stage.

A grand entrance:American Idol winner Fantasia was proceeded on the stage by a high school marching band in full uniform which accompanied her on a rousing and brassy It's All Good. As they exited she downshifted the mood into old-school soul with an Aretha-style version of Sam Cooke's Change Is Gonna Come and a sumptuous Collard Greens and Cornbread. She summoned an assistant to take her shoes off for defiant versions of Free Yourself and I'm Doin Me. Fantasia displays none of Mary J. Blige's elegance — she's more in the sweaty and combustive James Brown mode and is not shy about walking into the crowd — but that serves her harder-edged material like Bittersweet well.

Queen's quirks: Aretha Franklin, who had performed at Essence in 1995 and 2005, was typically unpredictable during her much-anticipated return appearance. The 90-minute, 13-song set was intermittently satisfying, lumbering, transcendant, goofy, disorganized and moving. After her full orchestra teased the crowd with instrumental snippets of her hits, she was led onto the stage wearing a bright orange, chiffon, floor-length gown adorned with a cape. Franklin opened with Jackie Wilson's (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher, an inspired choice that was marred when her vocals were drowned out by her backup singers and orchestra. From there she offered fairly engaging renditions of early hits, including You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman, Think, The House That Jack Built and a particularly strong I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You). Her voice is a different one now than that all-time great instrument of her youth — not as foreceful or as eager to snare the high notes — but still a thing to behold.

.

The second half proved confusing for all involved, starting with a mid-concert ceremony during which she was given three awards twice by local dignitaries and Essence officials. When she returned to sing, in a green gown adorned with gold (adding a straw hat along the way), she offered a mish-mash of songs that included a Whitney Houston tribute (I Will Always Love You), a down-and-dirty blues standard (B.B. King's Sweet Sixteen), minor complaints about the air conditioning and the sound mix, Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water, and several extended gospel vamps backed by a full gospel choir. Finally, she shuffled offstage, then returned to toss a few stuffed animals to the crowd. After she left for good, a New Orleans brass band appeared on stage and performed a traditional parade song without microphones, completely baffling the fans who had anticipated a promised encore of Respect.

Trouper to the end: With the show running late and Aretha Franklin running unexpected long, Chaka Khan had the unenviable task of taking the stage at around 1 a.m. Monday before a rapidly thinning crowd. But the newly svelte R&B belter acquitted herself well with sturdy versions of hits such as I Feel for You, Sweet Thing, I'm Every Woman and Tell Me Something Good.

I love Aretha,but what she did was NOT cool Chaka should NOT have had to cut her set down to 30 minutes.

SoulAlive said:

I love Aretha,but what she did was NOT cool Chaka should NOT have had to cut her set down to 30 minutes.

Right. If they knew this was going to be Let's All Worship The Queen Night, then she should have been the last act to perform. I'm not sure who's to blame, Aretha or the organizers, but it was totally and completely disrespectful to Chaka.

More proof that Aretha could care less about other Female singers(divas)..

Maybe Aretha didnt know she was going to win the awards in her set... When she was on the radio last week she didnt mention anything about awards when she talked about performing at the EMF.

mjscarousal said:

Maybe Aretha didnt know she was going to win the awards in her set... When she was on the radio last week she didnt mention anything about awards when she talked about performing at the EMF.

It may have been the organizers who screwed up. All i know Chaka was expecting to do an hour show that got cut to 30 minutes, after a large majority of the people had already left. From the way it sounds, after Aretha and everthing that went on after her performance, folks probably thought the show was over.

kitbradley said:

mjscarousal said:

Maybe Aretha didnt know she was going to win the awards in her set... When she was on the radio last week she didnt mention anything about awards when she talked about performing at the EMF.

It may have been the organizers who screwed up. All i know Chaka was expecting to do an hour show that got cut to 30 minutes, after a large majority of the people had already left. From the way it sounds, after Aretha and everthing that went on after her performance, folks probably thought the show was over.

Yea I think it was the organizers

I also wish D angelo would do the regular version of Shit, Damn, Motherfucker... I loveeee the funky version so much better.... It still looked like he put on a good show.

It was the audience.

I don't put nothing past ReRe. We all know she hates other women.

Aretha was the headliner, and therefore she had the right to determine order, etc. She asked for them to put someone on after her, and the Essence people added Chaka and the r&b singers that will be on that new reality show: Faith Evans, Monifah, Syleena Johnson, KeKe Wyatt and one more lady (her name escapes me). The entire show ran over, from the comedian to Kirk Franklin to Fantasia to Anthony Hamilton.

Aretha cut her set short and didn't even do "Respect", which had many reeling.

SoulAlive said:

I love Aretha,but what she did was NOT cool Chaka should NOT have had to cut her set down to 30 minutes.

RnBAmbassador said:

Aretha was the headliner, and therefore she had the right to determine order, etc. She asked for them to put someone on after her, and the Essence people added Chaka and the r&b singers that will be on that new reality show: Faith Evans, Monifah, Syleena Johnson, KeKe Wyatt and one more lady (her name escapes me). The entire show ran over, from the comedian to Kirk Franklin to Fantasia to Anthony Hamilton.

Aretha cut her set short and didn't even do "Respect", which had many reeling.

SoulAlive said:

I love Aretha,but what she did was NOT cool Chaka should NOT have had to cut her set down to 30 minutes.

One of the main reasons why I skip concerts venues with more than 1 act.

Review from BILLBOARD

http://www.billboard.com/...5152.story

Graycap23 said:

RnBAmbassador said:

Essence fest: Songz is strong

(a recap of Friday night) from USA Today

I can't possibly take this serious. I refuse 2 read any further.