Best Gig?

People ask me quite often which act did I enjoy most in concert. This is always followed by a long, “Hmmmm well I am not sure.”

It is hard to narrow it down but I think I can confidently say Method Man and Redman, Alicia Keys, John Legend, The Roots and J5, Amp Fiddler and Digital Underground. This doesn’t include acts I have seen at festivals as I would easily then add Lupe Fiasco in 2006.

Every act was memorable for different reasons. The Roots and J5 in 03 along with Method Man and Redman in 05 just put on great shows and the energy was intense. Meth and Red were out for a long time and management had to ask them to leave the stage.. plus I snuck in a camera by pulling a most skillful ruse. Well not really I just had my camera in my hand and raised my hands to the roof while I was patted down, all the while with my camera in hand, haha fools!

Alicia, Alicia Alicia, well just to see Alicia Keys in 04 sing atop a grand piano was reason enough to drool. Just to see her perform live was a treat and thanks to my binoclulars, I made sure I had a good gander. John Legend was a particularly inspiring event. Only a week after interviewing him.. yea that’s right folks, John did a show at The Prince of Wales here in Melbourne and after chatting with him, it became apparent that he was a little ill. I didn’t know it was so bad as just after three songs he was force to almost leave the stage. But after a lot of crowd encouragement he showed why he is one of modern music’s masters. After some whispers and nods to his band, he decided to change the keys to all his songs and with a bit of effort he managed to belt out a bunch of awesome cuts. This showed me not only how talented he is, but also how he could adapt and make something new out of the familiar.

Digital Underground was awesome again because the crew showed some true showmanship and often just forgot the crowd was there. They played around, were bursting with energy but really played with the tempo. I managed to interview and meet them all too which was memorable for several different reasons. Amp was the most recent I can remember and he just brought Good Vibes! The crowd was warm, the band he had loved the scene, venue was intimate and Amp was right in my face. He played all my favourite tracks including some obscure stuff and you could see he was loving it too.

I guess any gig where you are enjoying the act as much as everyone else is and you find yourself smiling and moving involuntarily, then you have got something.