Sunday, August 16, 2009

urban vibes all over...

rock the bells last saturday. walked in late but just in time to check out reflection eternal (talib kweli and hi-tek). my girl aja and i went up on the grass and chilled.

(side note: i realized i'd been at the san manuel amphitheatre before... in mid nineties with my friend josh when we rolled out for a blues traveler/dave matthews band show. always wondered where i was for that show - had no idea!)

and the rest of the show was a blur of one fantastic performance after another. big boi. surprise set by slick rick! the ROOTS, yo! (DOPE SET) then busta... and nas... and damian marley doing a mostly bob marley set... and finally ICE CUBE. seriously when i left i thought it was the best show i'd seen this year so far. Cube slayed it. straight outta compton..


drive back sucked. next year i hope they use a venue that's closer to la. it was in a dumpy town. not a good hotel/motel in the area. too bad. should have been two days. one stage. rza/raekwan, and slum village played on a second side stage area that we never made it to. that sucked.

great show. period.

then thursday night that same week i rolled to meet my girl mel at the lil weezy show at the gibson. it was supposed to start at 715. they started at 645 i heard later. i got there at 8 and by then we'd missed drake, jeremieh and even soldja boy tell'em. wow. i have never heard a rap show starting on time, let alone early...

young jeezy played when we walked in. was a great set, but i didn't even know he was on the bill that night. whatever. so wayne took the stage at 935 p.m....935 p.m people. i was warned by everyone that i'd be lucky if he was under and hour and a half late starting his set. he was PROMPT. and he played til 11. it was the single highest energy leveled concert i've seen yet this year. only other time i'd seen that was the jay z show at the house of blues on sunset last year. THAT was off the hook, and intimate. This was huge and louder than anything i've ever heard. it was over-stimulation at it's finest. ferreal.

check this vid out, yo. turn volume down. it's all reverb.


a milli, lollipop, kush, tie my hands (GORGEOUS SONG), mrs. officer (see above). ended with every girl by the young money crew. it was fantastic. only thing baffled me was what happened with his guitar lessons.... he brought out a red les paul which he didn't touch at all in one song, and the second one he did a few lead licks, but only once. he really didn't seem confident on it at all--good that he tried, i guess.

i wish every show i go to could be as much fun as just those 1 and 1/2 hours. he's so fun to watch and all the tats are intense.

seriously. if you at all like his music, go. it was worth every penny.
get good seats, too. he has a ghetto dance crew. pole dancing and all.
super fun.

hit me on twitter @kristinjuel if you want more 411 on my musical escapades, yo.


peace.
hollywood, out.
k

song of the moment: tie my hands
http://www.dailymotion.com/related/x5my97/video/x8b6f5_lil-wayne-robin-thicke-tie-my-hands_shortfilms