'AFTER 15 YEARS AND 20 MINUTES'

 

Melbourne February 2011 'Good Vibrations Festival'

Photo by 'Pebble'

Reviews by RAY MANN [Soul Of Sydney]...

"....the one and only Erykah Badu, the single reason I (and, apparently, a lot of other people) was even at the festival. From the moment she stepped onto the stage (after 15 years and 20 minutes), everyone single excited one of us in the audience knew we were in the presence of not merely a singer, but an artist. Even with her own extensive catalogue, Ms Badu delves into her musical influences like veering off on tangents in a conversation. Ms Badu, who was an MC long before she came to prominence as a neo-soul singer, references old school hip-hop in the middle of edgy renditions of her own tracks, both older (‘On & On’, ‘Danger’) and newer (‘Window Seat’). What’s most fascinating about Erykah Badu’s performance is the organic way she pulls those hip hop samples into the mix of her own output, driving the show less like a singer and more like a DJ. If you can’t see Erykah’s hands, you’re missing the show: remixing her own songs on the fly, directing her tight-as band to stop on a dime, jumping back and forth between different sections of different songs seemingly on a whim, even playing drums on her MPC – everything on that stage, from her amazing voice to her storytelling to her body, is a tool she picks up and uses sparingly, as the moment dictates. The effect of all of this is that you cannot take your eyes off her: this is a true artist, a woman celebrating her femaledom as much as her love of hip hop (and what a sight it was, watching her drop the entire Ice Cube verse from NWA's ‘Gangsta Gangsta’, repeating the line “life ain’t nuthin’ but bitches and money” with who-knows-how-much irony, if any). It’s that same spontaneity that saw her suddenly launch into a diatribe about ‘Occupation’ toward the end of an already-running-late set – but dammit, folks been waiting a long time for her to come out here only to play the one show, and she was clearly making the most of it."