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Mary J. Blige and D'Angelo at the Gibson Amphitheatre
By August BrownSeptember 10, 2012, 1:17 p.m.

When D’Angelo sat at his electric piano Sunday night at the Gibson Amphitheatre and played the first bars of his hit “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” women screamed with Pavlovian memories of the song’s video, which starred his oiled abs, pelvic muscles and, it’s rumored, the rest of the singer as well. Grown men leaped to their feet and yelled, “Give ’em more, D!” like they were cheering an action-movie hero.

But then D’Angelo stopped. He walked out from behind the piano, stood before the crowd and waited. He stayed there for a full minute while the cheers grew ravenous and maybe even a little threatening — someone shouted, “Oh, no, that can’t be it” as if they intended to make him finish.
D’Angelo soon returned and brought the house down with “Untitled,” a song he famously neglected to play at his recent House of Blues comeback date. But he’d made his point. D’Angelo has a dicey relationship with the song that made him a star — a single that foisted a sex-god stereotype upon him, an image that does no justice to his complex musicality.

That question — how does a singer riff off the early material that made his or her reputation? — drove the Liberation tour, which also starred headliner Mary J. Blige and younger singer Melanie Fiona. The two top acts had opposite ways of solving that problem, and their sets were profoundly rewarding for it.

Full article: http://www.latimes.com/en...4850.story

Mary J. Blige good, D'Angelo better at Gibson
By STEVEN MIRKIN / FOR THE REGISTER

Mary J. Blige and D'Angelo make for an odd double bill. She's a relentlessly confessional performer, ready turn any slight, professional or romantic, into an impassioned proclamation. He famously stepped out of the spotlight a decade ago and is making tentative moves back.
But Sunday night at Gibson Amphitheatre, the pairing worked. If Blige is a gothic romance, all wuthering emotions and bad choices, D'Angelo is Heathcliff, the idealized man returning to the moors.

D'Angelo opened, yet his reappearance was the evening's big story. A decade ago, he was on the cusp of superstardom with a chart-topping album and a rapturously received tour. And then: nothing. Recording his follow-up to 2000's Voodoo was stalled, not that D'Angelo was ever what one could call a fast worker – there was a five-year break between his debut, Brown Sugar, and its follow-up. Reports of drug busts and other problems, including photos showing the once cut-and-toned singer gone to flab, made it appear that he was in danger of becoming the male Lauryn Hill.

But from the moment he appeared from a knot of people at the top of the orchestra stairs and walked down the aisle, embracing, high-fiving and chest-bumping fans, it was clear he was back in his element.

Full Story: http://www.ocregister.com...ecade.html
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Starchelle:

She opened the show. I was getting drinks during her set and from what I could see/hear on the bar monitors, I wasn't missing much.

I guess she's signed to Mary J.'s label, Matriarch.

Melanie Fiona:

This was a pleasant surprise. Her set was "rockier" than I anticipated.

The best P.A. mix of the night.

D'Angelo:

The curiosity factor is why I went to this show. The band is tight and plays well together.

What was extremely aggravating was the P.A. mix. You've got this exceptional bassist (Pino Palladino) who I could tell was killin' it and the low end mix was pure mud.

Hopefully D'Angelo has got more material coming like Another Life.

Mary J. Blige:

Not a fan. Stayed for a couple of songs. Nice light show.



Music for adventurous listeners

tA

Tribal Records

fuck, d and mary on the same bill, with melanie fiona? MF is great herself

lucky bastards