If you ever get the chance to see Lauryn Hill live, you should brush the dust of Miseducation Of and stay at home instead!

Went to the Manchester show last night, almost 2 hours late, no apology, first half was songs from the album all remixed and sped up fast barely recognisable, sounded awful!

After about 45 mins of that she got booed off stage, then had the cheek to ask why she was being booed.

Unfortunatley this has been the case at all her UK shows.

2nd half was good after she did some acoustic, then Fugees stuff and around 5 or 6 Bob Marley tracks but the mood of the crowd had gone right down hill, such a shame because she still has the voice and talent.

People were leaving 20-30 mins into the show must have lost loads through the first hour.

Wow.....sounds like she should just retire.

This is NOT a good look and doesn't bode well 4 the future.

Her Voice and her performance is still amazing, but the fact she doesnt care about making people wait for nearly 2 hours per show really puts a downer on things, I dont know maybe had she come on at the time she should have it may have gone down better? The crowd had no patience left.

I think the structure of her set list was just wrong, I image that only having 1 solo album to work with live since 1998 she probably just thought she needed to do it differently.

Even if she started with the big tracks and slipped in the new mixes here and there it would have made a difference to uplift the crowd, but surely after a few shows with exactly the same reviews she should have changed it?

Pretyt obvious it was done for money reasons to clear her tax bill rather than the love of giving a good show.

Here's my review from July, as I posted in this thread:

http://prince.org/msg/8/409323?&pg=2

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Cool, nice review, great you had a good time

The Apollo in manchester is an Extremely hot venue with no air con, so nearly 2 hours waiting, people were dripping in sweat it was very uncomfortable.

With not even an opening act, yeah she had a DJ but he got bored and eventually went off stage and they just put some tracks on over the PA.

The band came out after a while looking quite apologetic, and they Jammed for about 15-20 mins or so obviously they had been sent out to try and calm the boo's from the crowd.

I think maybe if it wasnt such a wait for her to come out the night might have taken a different turn, the buzz had completely gone so coming out and playing tracks people are not familiar with didnt set any kind of momentum.

As I say 2nd half after the Acoustic went down a storm (Actually sounds like she played the same kind of set as your gig)

She should maybe have a back up plan with her set list and switch it up if the crowd are not responding from the off.

That's a shame. I read the reviews at the start of the week about the badly-received show in Brixton and wondered initially if it was just that she'd changed up the songs when people were expecting something more like the record. (I've only seen clips but I quite like the new version of Final Hour, for example.) From reading what people said, though, it seemed more to do with the fact that she was again ridiculously late and then crashed through songs over a sound system turned up to 11, without much subtlety or change of pace. Bound to piss people off, that.

Found a full show online, which I keep meaning to see if any of the other new arrangements grab me (with the benefit of watching from the comfort of my own home, with a nice cup of tea, and at a time of my choosing ). There's a 1999 show to fall back on, if it's a dud.

Yeah loved the new arrangement of Final hour, she also did a new track called Black Rage I'd already heard it but most hadnt sounded cool live https://soundcloud.com/mslaurynhill/black-rage-sketch

The sound was ok, couldnt really hear her for the start of it, I guess with her being late they hadnt done a sound check or anything for her vocals, the Apollo's system is brilliant so the majority of the sound was spot on,

The lighting too wasnt right, I was sat upstairs and the lights were shined right in everyone's eyes for pretty much the full show.

Bit of a review on the MEN http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/review-lauryn-hill--manchester-7836144

I guess it was pretty brave of her to try something new, but IMO there is ways and means of doing it and really should have sandwiched them tracks inbetween crowd pleasers rather than 45 mins of it to start

Pretty much the same set as that one you posted too, only cut short because of the curfew and her starting late.

[Edited 9/26/14 10:28am]

Kind of like Axl Rose, it sounds like she is capable of doing a great show and sometimes just.... won't. For whatever reason.

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I think Lauryn probably does have some genuine psychological issues, and for a performer, that would be hell, knowing you have to get on a stage in front of hundreds of people to perform when you're in a difficult mental state.

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