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Live review: Mos Def
Well, that was…interesting.
First, Mos Def took the Dell stage about 20 minutes after his 6 p.m. start time Saturday evening.
Now, a 6 p.m. time slot on one of the two biggest stages at ACL is a pretty big deal You are essentially the last act before that night’s headliner. It means the organizers, acting presumably as a conduit for the fans, expect you to own that stage with a dynamic, forceful set, or at least an emotionally involved one.
It does not mean they, organizers or audience, expect you to show up late. And it doesn’t mean they, organizers or audience, expect you to ramble over funk-jazz jams for most of your set.
Mos was nearly unrecognizable at first, playing percussion over funk vamps. This was hip-hop as jam band. So far so good, more or less. But when it he going to grab that mic and just kill it?
Well, not really ever as it turned out. Oh, he grabbed the mic, a large 50s-looking thing, the kind Elvis Presley and Wynonie Harris sang into. But he seemed a little distracted or out of it here and there, seemingly freestyling when not stringing together bits of songs such as “Life is Marvelous,” the Roots feat. Mos Def tune “Double Trouble” the one with the Bob James “Nautilius” break; see also Ghostface’s “Daytona 500”) and “Casa Bey” (“Magnetic, the flows are athletic”). It may have played brilliantly to people up close, but the volume of non-interest seemed to get bigger the further back into the crowd one went. He let us know that many things were “in the building” - hip-hop, Brooklyn, Austin, etc. (also: “building?”)
By the time the rain started again, lots of folks simply gave up on the man, mumbling about the worst set of the weekend and such.
Except then he did something so completely in the realm of “things ACL crowds like” (perhaps a subset of the popular “stuff white people like” meme) as to nearly render the rest of his set moot: He covered Radiohead’s “All I Need.” Sang pretty much all of it.
Well played, Mr. Def. Well played.
Ricardo B. Brazziell photo
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Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: ACL 2009: Saturday, ACL Festival 2009
Comments
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By j
October 4, 2009 1:45 PM | Link to this
The reviewer is too kind. Mos Def was frankly just too high to perform. It WAS the worst set I’ve ever seen at ACL or anywhere else, a complete train wreck. He mumbled on incoherently (and off key) as the audience (AND his band mates) rolled their eyes. An embarrasment to himself and an insult to his audience.
By RW
October 5, 2009 10:03 PM | Link to this
Weeeeellll. I can’t lie! I am a HUGE Mos Def Fan but I was disapointed in his set. I thought it was going to be a Mos Def spitting the good stuff but it wasn’t. I was so psyched for this too.
By NSJ
October 6, 2009 1:50 PM | Link to this
I agree with the first comment. Mos was one of the most hotly anticipated acts. Heck, I gave up seeing Levon Helm for this, and it was AWFUL. Dreadful. It cannot be overstated how bad this was.
And it’s worth saying that ACL is certainly hip-hop friendly. Common crushed it in ‘07 and had the whole crowd with their fists raised. We just shook our heads at this.