Last night's show in Detroit was outstanding. He took the stage at 10 (about an hour after the opener, they played Dilla during the interim but folks started to get restless). Played everything but 3.5 cuts off Black Messiah (missing: Til It's Done, 1000 Deaths, Prayer, and they only played an interlude of The Door). Four cuts from Voodoo (Chicken Grease, Left & Right, Spanish Joint (!!!), closing with Untitled). Only Brown Sugar off the first album. Setlist seems a bit short in retrospect, but so many of the song went on and on, turned into extended funk workouts with D and the band really showing their stuff. Show ended around 12:15 I think, with probably about fifteen minutes of break time total, so about a 2 hour show.

What can be said that others haven't said? It was thrilling just to see D so happy. I wasn't even looking forward to Untitled that much, but they turned that shit *out*. It was great to see the crowd, too --- completely into it, dancing, nodding, singing along. It's been a long time since the Voodoo tour, and I was much younger then, but this show feels looser, a bit more natural, and from song to song it just moved with a really compelling momentum. Wasn't a moment of down time.

A few downsides:
- Others have said they enjoyed the opener, Mel Mac, I didn't really get into it. They did a version of Grandma's Hands that almost felt sacrilegious, turning it into a loud monstrosity of a thing that pretty much annihilated the vulnerability and fragility of the original. I'm all for covers that reinterpret in a meaningful way, but this just felt unnecessary and overblown.
- The mix on the sound was really weird --- not sure if it was the venue or what, but they seemed to get it a bit more in check halfway through. Could have been where I was sitting (balcony, far left), too, but it just seemed really unbalanced to the point where it was almost --- *almost* --- distracting at times. D's piano was drowned out for a lot of the show, too, which was a real shame.
------ EDIT: Watching this clip from the show now (https://youtu.be/1zJ7A5YGaMo) and it seems like it was more where I was sitting --- this was shot on the floor and the sound seems much more balanced. I wondered if that was the case last night and almost went down to the floor, but it was pretty packed and I was enjoying the view where I was.


But really, the show exceeded expectations and provided some much needed catharsis in the midst of some pretty crazy times socially/politically. And I got the sense that that was exactly what D wanted to do: just get everyone to loosen up, have a good time, get some positivity flowing, and collectively enjoy an amazing musical experience. In that, he succeeded abundantly. Don't have to say this here, but if you can catch the tour, do --- I drove 4.5 hours in terrible rainstorms for pretty much the whole way, and it was undoubtedly worth every bit of the effort.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~