Last week the Wilbur Theater sent out a newsletter with a list of upcoming acts, and I was psyched to notice that Citizen Cope was on the list for a March 31st show. I'd never seen him perform before, but am a big fan of The Clarence Greenwood Recordings album, so I bought a ticket pretty quickly and marked my calendar.
If you're not familiar with his music, Citizen Cope is a mumbling, bluesy/soul/folk/rock/sometimes-hip-hoppy singer/songwriter
with a man-bun and pretty blue eyes. His sound is terribly hard to
define, so you might as well just listen to it for yourself and decide if you like it or not.
None of my friends ended up tagging along, but that didn't end up being a big deal. Going to shows alone CAN be done, people. Do it. My seat was in the same part of the theater as when we saw Lauryn Hill a couple weeks ago, but a handful of rows closer to the stage. I arrived and sat down with just about 5 minutes to spare before he came onstage at 8:30.
. his outfit can get it .
He played two 45-minute, stripped down, acoustic sets to a very supportive crowd (there was much hooting, hollering, and song-name-calling-out). He soaked it all in incredibly graciously and seemed humbled by the love he was being shown. Also, as indicated by the caption on the above photo, I liked his look. A casual button down, loose olive green pants, beat-up black boots, and a man-pony. Clarence, let's hang out and be super chill together.
My personal favorites from the night were Sideways (I am a sucker for that song) and Pablo Picaso. There are short video snippets of each on my IG page, here and here. WATCH'EM.
Anyone else a fan of Citizen Cope?
What's your favorite song by him?
Who else has some live music lined up in their near future?? Tell me about it!
Fridays usually mean nails around here, but I'm taking a break from that this week because I didn't have the energy in me yesterday to come up with an idea, do all the nail/cuticle prep, polish my nails, take pictures, edit the pictures, etc. My Wednesday night went a bit further into the wee hours than I'd anticipated, which is why I was so done-for all day yesterday. What was so terribly exciting about my Wednesday evening, you ask? OH JUST MS. LAURYN HILL.
Yeppp, on Wednesday night I went with a few friends went to see an acoustic performance by Lauryn Hill at the Wilbur Theater in Boston. The tickets had been burning a hole in my iPhone (that's what we say
these days when we use Passbook, right?) for months!
I have a pulse, so obviously I was a fan of Fugees, and I was among the millions of people who bought (and became obsessed with) The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill back in 1998. A few years ago, she performed her entire Miseducation album at the Rock the Bells festival, and witnessing it in person was pretty special. When I heard she was coming to Boston, I immediately rallied some troops (Kara, Steph and Amanze!) and put it on my calendar.
The show was supposed to start at 8, but at around 8:30 a film began playing onstage - Concerning Violence, a short documentary about anti-imperialism and decolonization that was narrated by Ms. Hill. It was interesting (and also a bit depressing), but not everyone in the audience was psyched about being shown a documentary at a concert. When the film ended, a DJ began spinning onstage - who, by the way, was definitely dressed like she belonged in the background of a 1993 Salt 'n Pepa video. At this point, not everyone in the audience was psyched that there was a DJ playing instead of Ms. Hill. Can you pick up on a theme of growing malcontent?
It was well after 10pm when Lauryn finally came out and took her place on a loveseat-style couch at the center of the stage. Picking up her guitar and speaking little-to-no-words to any of us, she and her band launched into Conform to Love. Cue the chair-dancing, because it was a smallish venue and no one was really standing much.
I only took one photo while we were there, and it came out terribly blurry...
... but you get the general setup. I've been trying to find the setlist for the show, but so far it's nowhere to be found. Other highlights were when she did Sweetest Thing, Lost Ones, and Fu-Gee-La in its entirety.
She closed out the show with Doo Wop (That Thing), which is when she finally got up out of her chair herself. The rest of the audience followed suit, and it was a great closer. It was almost 12:30 in the morning when she finished, so that was an unexpected element of a Wednesday night show. So very worth being exhausted the next day!
Now for your entertainment, here is some music from Lauryn to get you on my level:
Sweetest Thing
So High (Cloud 9 Remix) - John Legend feat. Lauryn Hill
Turn Your Lights Down Low - Bob Marley feat Lauryn Hill
And here's a random cover of Conform to Love by a young woman named Kamilah Sumner - watch the whole thing, she just gets better and better.
Leave a comment to let me know what your favorite Lauryn Hill song is! And I'm sure that a regularly scheduled nail polish post will be back next Friday ;)
