Woooooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!!

yea no doubt.

Details, had something come up had to leave town... seeing him in Richmond in two weeks, but would like to know how this was.

i think mos def is one of the most talented people on this earth. the crowd from where i was sitting seemed a bit lame. i guess all the okayplayers started bouncing their heads as soon as he all cap came on, and i think that even some of the jdilla beats went way over some people. i did not like how i had to sit down, i didnt like how i couldnt bring in my drink in, but its the kend. cent. and the show wraped up quick. but the chance to see mos crack jokes, sing, rap, dance, all with a full jazz band. illin. my top 5 shows def shifted after last night. if he is going to keep doing this at more stops, people need to go see this.

Yeah, the crowd was a "lil strange". There were old folks, children...not the crowd I anticipated.

The DOOM portion of the show def went over EVERYONE'S head as well as the Dilla/SV seg.

But, Dude still put on a dope show. Highlight..."Caan you show a pic of the President, please?" Mos instructs the visual dir to show a pic of "the President" on the screen...and up comes...Obama.

The crowd went wild.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!

amazing show as usual.

same set up as Carnegie Hall show earlier with year with the orchestra, horns, glasper, chris dave, derrick hodge, casey benjamin, dj preservation etc. all in all, about 25 piece band.

here is the setlist:

Set 1:

How To Eat A Watermelon (Petey Greene)
Upbeat, Funky Big Band Jam
Apollo Kids (Ghostface)
Auditorium
Poison (Bell Biv Devoe)
Walk On By (Isaac Hayes) / U R The One
Holy Thursday (David Axelrod) / Dr. DEF / A Love Supreme tease (John Coltrane)
Star Spangled (& fumbled) Banner
Sardines
Hip Hop 101

Set 2:

Jam (Amino Alkaline Watermelon Syndicate)
Black Radio
Rock Cover (???)
Saturday Night Dancing (new song verses)
Fantastic Jam (new song verses)
Eternal Sunshine (new song verses) / Jay Electronica cover
Fall In Love
All Caps (Madvillian)
Afro Blue
Stakes Is High (De La Soul)
Umi Says
(band introductions)
Weird Fishes ft. Casey Benjamin (Radiohead)


kennedy center is freakin HUGE btw...

more later..


edit:

and to anyone who says Mos Def fell off, fall back and peep one one of his powerful new verses from a song he's been performing over David Axelrod's Holy Thursday:

Growing numbers of the suffering and sick
In desperate need of treatment, all they gettin is a fix
But sometimes its all they really can afford
Went from stretched out in the floor
To a stretcher in the ward
And here come the doctor with the wrong diagnosis
Should be helpin you out, he just dopin you over
He dont treat the problems, he just treat the symptoms
His business is sickness his millions in illness
Pills, powders, potions, creams and elixirs
Get the scripts, get em sick
Hurry up and fill them
But freedom aint free, dont forget to bill them
A fantastic living, to make out of killing
Clear the hours for lament is in the building
Brand new labcoat, swaggered out asshole
Passing out capsules, all about cash flow
Fingers on the I-V, oops he D-I-E
Say a prayer for the native (?) of the dying breed
Epitaph for the victim of somebody's grieve
Doctor gotta eat, but the paitent trying to breathe
He tried to get relief, and all he got was
*beeeeeeep*

Hot Damn i would have loved that, now i can't wait for Richmond if he is starting to perform new shit.

about your richmond show.

he doesnt tour with the big band, only select special occaisions.

It won't be i am aware of that. I was more psyched about the new shit you mentioned. I enjoyed him last time in Richmond, he had Black Radio which is also excellent. Wish i would have made Kennedy but couldn't. Oh well Mos than the roots in a week i'm done being bitter, thanks for the set list. You didn't magically come across any audio like you have a tendency to do, did ya?

I loved it! Having it at the Kennedy Center definitely made everyone more reserved than you’d normally expect for this kind of show. I never really felt free to stand up or to REALLY show how hype I was, but I had a smile and a serious head bob going the whole time. I was also upset that they lured me into buying candy RIGHT outside the auditorium that I couldn't eat inside!

I loved the fact that you could tell how appreciative Mos was to be there. This was a big deal for him too. The fact that the crowd wasn’t as hype as he’s probably used to didn’t seem to faze him. He understood where he was, made allowances for that, and rocked it anyway.

I agree that my favorite moment was the Obama/Stakes is High part. At that point, nobody cared that it was the Kennedy Center -- we all stood up and let out everything we’d been holding in. If this show comes to your area you MUST check it out.

Did anyone check out the set at Bohemian Caverns afterwards?

here is a better review of the show.

http://dcist.com/2008/09/22/mos_def_the_kennedy_center.php

i went to the joint at BC, no mos. but everyone who worked there said "yea he is suppose to show up" "would you like another drink?"

it was decent, and i respect what they are doing, but i could only take a few songs of the singing and the "synthesizers" type sound. although when he said "more than meets the eye" i did laugh.