It is not true D’Angelo didn’t have some of the new songs in place before the Apollo gig in early February of this year (here). He had “Charade, “Sugah Daddy” and (as far back as 2008) “Really Love”. What he didn’t have was the placement. He didn’t have “Sugah Daddy” following “The Charade”, he did not have “Really Love” between “Feel Like Making Love” and “One Mo’ Gin”. He didn’t have the Vanguard backing him or a new product to push and he didn’t have much to prove because simply showing up (as he failed to do at a gig in Brooklyn I had tix to a coupla years ago) was proof enough.
But last February, with a highly acclaimed new album in his back pocket, he had a lot to prove to the fellows at the Apollo, the fans, the critics, hell, himself and his band, and prove it he did with a concert that I consider one of the finest I’ve ever seen. While a complaint might be levelled at the bands overall tightness, it wouldn’t stick well, and if they missed something in tightness, they made up with it in stark hard concentration: they jammed but there was no schtick, no messing about, it was all to a certain place that they were going for and D’Angelo took his band where he wanted them to go.
A month and a European tour later, and D’Angelo is back in New York and playing Best Buy and he acted as though he had nothing left to prove. The doors were at seven o’clock and there was no opening act, and still the set didn’t start till nearly ten o’clock, a ridiculous cockiness that left the audience (much quieter than at the Apollo) exhausted before he started. He played till 1230am. More than a few fans left before the second encore, it was just too late.
Inexcusable arrogance, and ok, whatever, rock stars will be rock stars, but the first 75 minutes were filled with the usual callout out and shout outs and New Yorks you’d expect from, well, to be honest, it reminded me of Sam Smith, it is rabble rousing and unnecessary audience manipulation, do we really need “where my ladies at?” shout outs.The level of playing was excellent, sure, but smug, and complacent for the first 75 minutes, right through a not very good version of Heatwave’s “The Star Of A Story” and the set is little obvious, it looks right but it sounds forced and silly. The “One Mo’ Gin” went from first at the Apollo, with a coda that transcended words into deep feelings, at the Apollo, to an improvised, not very lyrical, coda at Best Buy, the latter distracted by some band control stuff, you know it, you’ve heard it a 1000 times (with Prince it is almost a tic), where the band stops and starts on a dime. Over and over again.
Around the time he goes into “Brown Sugar” I am still not feeling it, not 100%, good, absolutely, but not great and last time he was just consistently great. The singing is great, the band is great, but the mugging is distracting, and the improvisations are too clever, there is an air of arrogance about the proceedings. This doesn’t really stop but the set begins to take off with the very next song, “The Charade”and from there and for the next 90 minutes, right through two encores, everything is right. I think D’Angelo for whatever reason wasn’t paying close enough attention for the first hour and the show began to unravel, he sounded distracted, and then, suddenly he began to come into deep focus and when the leader goes into deep focus, the band follows. And the Vanguard is good enough to follow. The “Charade” was better than the one on SNL, the “Sugah Daddy” made you wish they’d go in and record it again: there was a brittle and brilliant mix of metal and vaudeville and boogie woogie all mixed together. The show closer “Untitled” might not have been better than the one at the Apollo, but it was on par, and as set closers go it might be among the best you’ll see. With the members of the band leaving the stage one by one and the sound parsing down till it is just the audience and D’Angelo behind the keyboards singing “How does it feel” together, D’Angelo had taken us from large funk band Prince, Funkadelic, Sly, etc, 1970s sounds through intricate experimental dance vibes all the way to the most intimate sharing. But it is more than that. he keeps on the one for 150 minutes, whether dressing down syncopated rhythms or destroying his rhythm section with mind blowing precision, any complaints have to be seen through this paradigm of world class dance music.
No, if you didn’t see the Apollo show, this isn’t a substitute.Maybe it is more like Achilles.
Grade: A
