Living In Rhythm

I am hard to impress. I am jaded and cynical, and I have very high standards.

Tonight, I was absolutely HUMBLED.

(Yes, that is all caps and bold and italicized. I would have underlined if I was able.)

I bought a ticket to go see Maxwell. I was excited. I have adored him for years, and his new album (07-07-09) is one of my most anticipated releases of this year. I watched a couple live vids on Youtube just to see what it'd be like, and I was even more thrilled to be going...Just had that feeling it was going to be really damn good.

And then something special happened.

The opening act.

Laura Izibor. If you don't know her, you absolutely should. It is not often that music will reduce me to tears. Really. It isn't. I know I've blogged about it in the past, saying that every once in a while, you find a song that just destroys you in the most amazing way. All her songs did that to me. I was crying. Two songs in to the freaking night and I had goosebumps on my arms and had to wipe my eye. I wasn't embarrassed about it. I have no problem showing my emotions and reacting to something so incredible.

If an angel came down to me / Asked what I would do differently / I would say nothing you see / I love someone truly

Is that not the most honest lyric? Just beautiful.

Then the hook is ;

If tonight is my last / I wanna spend it with you

Maxwell rocked the house, man. He got a little nasty (to the delight of every woman in the crowd) with things like laying down on the stage when singing ,"girl, get on top of me." And lyrics like, "get on the table, I'mma eat you up." And telling the guys that, "if you can't get no ass after my show..."

But musically speaking, absolutely amazing. He somehow manages to keep the things that people love about his recorded songs, but revamp them and rework them a little for the live show. It worked seamlessly. Highlights were Pretty Wings (of course; how much do I love that song?), Lifetime, and a couple new songs that I cannot wait to have recordings of. Most notably, Cold.

I actually said to my friend today when she asked me what I expected, "It's going to be awesome. And R&B bands are always tight as hell, too." This band did not make a liar of me. Incredible musicians, all independently talented. Together? Forget it. I had chills all night.

And the ticket to this show was only $25! Steal. I would have paid much, much more. Much more.