Another Concert Gripe: Wyclef Jean

So, on Monday night I drove up to Ravinia (Highland Park, IL) to see Haitian hip hopper, Wyclef Jean in concert. Although I'm not a huge Wyclef fan, (I maintain that Masquerade is his BEST album) I was still psyched about going to the concert, mostly because I've been quite bored with myself lately. It also helped that one of the directors at the theater where I work, previously worked as a director at Ravinia; so needless to say...a sistah got a hook up.

Ravinia is a huge park known for its summer/fall concert series. They bring a range of artists from old folk groups to classic soul and select hip hop artists here and there. Aretha Franklin is a regular. Each year she sells out the park as if it's still the late 60's. Concert goers come from all over the city and burbs to picnic on the lawn and enjoy the music.

All seemed well with the evening. Strangely, a gospel choir opened for Wyclef. I didn't catch their name, but they rocked some classic gospel songs and did a brief and decent tribute to Luther Vandross. I thought the night was going to be perfect until Wyclef brought himself on stage for what would be a lackluster hour and half performance. I mean seriously...can y'all say a brotha was doing too much and nothing at all?!?!

That's right...Clef wasn't on his game. It wasn't bad, but let's just say, had I actually paid the $15 cost for the lawn seat...I would have been a tad bit shitty!

As a serious concertgoer, I consider myself to be a good judge of live performances. I like innovation and I don't require much for a performance to be worth the money. However, in order for me to even begin to consider a concert to be worth the money, it must consist of mostly the artist's OWN music!!! If not, then why the hell am I there??

In case you are a bit stunned...so am I!! I couldn't believe that 2/3 of Wyclef's performance was of other people's music. He sang parts of three songs from The Score, Ready or Not, Fu-Gee-La and No Woman No Cry. He sang a little bit of 911 from Ecleftic and parts of Gone Till November and Guantanamera from Carnival. Now y'all know I was already salty since I said above that Masquerade was his best album. I guess it's his least favorite, but shit, not even one song?? He managed to sing a part of some other song from The Preacher's Son for a total of maybe 8?!?! The remaining one hour was devoted to singing old school soul, dancehall and some other classic stuff. However, if I wanted to see Elephant Man meets Earth, Wind and Fire, I would have just stayed home and made a damn mix tape.

The energy of the crowd fluctuated between medium and high most of the night. He tried hard to pump the crowd up by bringing folks on stage to sing and dance and by repeatedly shouting out all the Haitians and other West Indians and Caribbean folks in the place, but it just wasn't enough. Overall, I was glad to get out and do something outdoors and music related, but I wasn't really impressed with Wyclef's performance.