Saturday, September 5, 2009

Great Expectations...Mos Def & Jay Electronica Live in Miami...



I had Great Expectations like Charles Dickens...but instead I got the refix, The Great Disapointment. Here's how the story goes. The time was August 15th, 2009. The setting was The Arsht Center in downtown Miami. The plot is an artist and his girl walking down the grey brick road, like Dorothy and the Scarecrow, or Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, on the way to see the Wonderful Wizard of OZ, otherwise known as The Mighty Mos Def in some circles...



We got there early, got our seats in the Arsht Center, which by the way is a dope venue, the acoustics in that place is ridiculous...nice spot. The place was packed and looked like it was close to sold out. On the stage, there was a drum kit, and two dj sets, four turntables on a raised platform...and that was it...Tickets were between $30-$60 a pop. So needless to say, well, I think it would be safe to say that in addition to myself, all the patrons had great expectations.

The show began with the opening act, whose name I can't remember right now, but when he came out, I thought he was the MC for the night. He asked how the crowd was doing, check, welcomed everybody to the show, check, but then started rhyming...I was like, alright, cool, maybe the MC for the night will come up after him...

After his set, he walked off the stage, and the lights came on and there was silence, no music was playing, no MC came to talk to the crowd, his dj walked off, and that was it...First Disappointment...

The time kept passing, and then another dj walked on the stage and went straight to his turn tables...he never said anything to anybody, he just started plugging up. (What ever happened to hyping up the crowd before the show like Fatman Scoop, or Jam Master Jay..RIP, or Stone Love, or Renaissance) Then Jay Electronica came on the stage...and he started talking to the crowd, check, did a couple of his tracks...some of them he did acappella, which was good, since his material was new to some people, and his lyrics were on point. He interacted with the crowd in between tracks.



Before he performed a J-Dilla...RIP...produced track, one of the patrons held up his J-Dilla t-shirt, and he asked him to bring it up so he could wear it on his shoulders while he performed the song. He made jokes with the crowd, check, and told everybody to remain positive and stay far from the negative people in life, check, overall, he had a good set...seemed a lot more comfortable on stage than his other shows which I read about in other online reviews...





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