Monday, May 2, 2011

Lupe Fiasco @ Roseland Ballroom

About 6 weeks ago, I received an alert that Lupe Fiasco was coming to town. I was uber excited and quickly bought two tickets for his concert at Roseland Ballroom. I've of course been listening to LASERS on repeat since the album dropped and couldn't wait to hear him perform live.  So this past Monday, Ms. A and I joined the thousands of screaming fans to hear Lupe throw it down.  Tinie Tempah opened the show, but unfortunately we entered late enough that we only saw him perform one song.  He looked like he was having fun though.

After waiting 40 minutes or so after Tinie Tempah got off the stage, Lupe graced us with his presence. The man is a ROCKSTAR.  

No, seriously. He is.

He put on quite the show with some of his earlier hits, most notably Kick & Push, Daydreamin and Hip Hop Has Saved My Life.  He was supported by a pretty lively band: Matthew Nelson on Keyboards, Eric Hammer on Guitar, Sarah Green on Vocals and Big Baby Bam on drums.  I’m not sure if it’s because they were tired since it was night two at Roseland or if that’s just how they sound...the instruments were great but the vocals were barely audible. Ms. Green spent far too much time shouting into the microphone and by the time she was put on the spot to sing acapella, her throat was hoarse and Big Baby Bam did a much better job than she did. Shameful.

By far the best part of the show was when they performed I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now.  Aside from the song conveying my general attitude these days, the performance was enhanced by the open bottles of water that they recklessly threw into the audience.

Yup. They didn’t care.  Lupe did a great job of being energetic and bouncing all around the stage. I was definitely thrilled that I finally got to see him perform – especially the songs off LASERS. If you don’t have the album, you should get it.  Here is a full version of I Don't Wanna Care Right Now.  Hopefully you can resist the urge to throw something.

The whole album is filled with excellent tracks. The man is talented and I’m glad LASERS isn’t the L.U.P.End.

Hungry yet?

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