The Real LIVE Thing

2/8/08 - “She put it DOWN that night”

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to see the lovely Ms. Jill Scott at the equally lovely art-deco Paramount Theater in Oakland. During the Friday concert she picked some great tracks from her library, often segueing from new songs back to old classics, each complementing the other, and all *ridiculously* better live than the studio cuts. Through a near perfectly paced set list (2hrs flew by!), Jill led the always-tight FatBack Taffy through the gamut of rock to blues to touching ballardy– busting out beyond the lazy categorization of “neo-soul”. With witty, sincere, sometimes hilarious spoken interludes between each song, Jill crafted an entertaining, thoughtful observation of modern, mature love (and, to be frank, sex.)

As y’all know, Jill above all is a talented storyteller, and one noteworthy example of this for me was the live version of “My Love”– already a touching song, made more-so by a spoken breakdown that recast the song not just as a simple plea for a love-lost, but a powerful re-declaration of “self-worth-found”. To quote the woman, it was “beautifully human” moment.

Actually, it was a beautiful night all around. Jill looked the definition of “grown and sexy” in a red afro, black empire-waist dress, gold necklace and killer strappy heels. The horn section not only sounded tight, but looked cute doing their little two-steps, and the lighting design this tour was impressive.

In the end, Jilly from Philly drew an adoring crowd of young, old, gay, straight, black, white, yellow, brown. That’s one mixed-up funky Family Reunion and I’ll *most definitely* be at the next one ;-)

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I wish I had the exact setlist, but I know it included: "The Real Thing", "Gimme" (Wow! A rare gem from "Live:Experience 826+") ; "Come See Me"; "Whenever You're Around" (w/ the better than album vrs. guitar solo); "Only You"; "Slowly, Surely" (which I think got a bluesy-revision that slowed deliciously down with each verse); "Do You Remember"; "How It Make You Feel" (and later, its counterpart "We Need You"); "Breathe"; "Crown Royal" ("Not going to take one sip... even tho it looks good, smells good... aw fuck it!"); "Epiphany" (which I did NOT think she'd do live); "My Love"; "Wanna Be Loved"; "The Way"; "He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)";"Golden" (thankfully this time done "straight", without the disco-breakdown from last tour); "Hate On Me" (you KNOW those two back-to-back had the crowd grooving and sweating); and finally a beautiful poetry/sing-along piece as the encore that's floating around on YouTube.

Real Real.

I'd made a comment regarding r&b songtresses way back last summer, in which I lamented:

ASIDE: why isn't there room in the hiphop landscape for a smart + stanky singer? By "stanky" I mean raw sexy. ...R&B Beyonce-chics sell a safe "sexy" that never gets gritty-- the real funk that can come from a grown ass woman's relations, both sexual AND emotional. [Few artists] still fiercely [hold] on to her sexuality...Erykah and Jill, whom I both love, but are of the "sensual-earthmother-sistafriend" mode."

Okay, scratch that. Jill's "The Real Thing" definitely puts her sexy side on full display. And I like. Was this frankness jarring? Sure. But in context, it makes perfect sense. She's 32, newly divorced, and rediscovering/claiming the full spectrum of her sexuality. Blissful highs to raw, rugged (even remorseful) lows. Definitely not for kids, by her own admission. And, really, not "stanky". How she manages to make "your diesel engine I'm squirting mad oil on" not sound as crass as something from Lil' Kim's playbook is beyond me. I mean, look at it. That's not poetry. Yet I've had "Crown Royal" on the mp3, looping, for a minute.

For n00bs, get the The Sampler, or check out the music player on her website.

My one quibble is that she needs to put more live instrumentation on her albums-- real horns behind "Hate On Me", a guitar solo on "Whenever You're Around" ala the Live version.

Or, hah, I'll just QMB and grab some concert tix next year (god willing).