Essence Festival 2014 – Prince and Beyond

14th July 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

Like life, anticipating the Essence Festival can be full of expectations followed by the element of surprise. This year’s 20th anniversary event held true to that assumption. Prince, the royalty of Friday night, brought it on with a strong performance singing hit after hit to an adoring, purple-clad crowd. Sporting an afro, the superstar boasted a more youthful look and aura than his swarthier, more defiant days. Local folks definitely appreciated that our own Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews stepped out of the horn section to solo on Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows In April,” a tune on which Prince really showed off his vocal range.This night, Prince was a crowd-pleasing, humorous entertainer. However it wasn’t until the encore of his set that, of course, was the much-awaited “Purple Rain,” that he strapped on his guitar. The Superdome’s arena, bathed in purple light,s became a magical space with voices and spirits raised.

Earlier that night, Janelle Monae rocked the house with a super-energized performance. To the absolutely recognizable theme from the movie 2001 – A Space Odyssey, the futuristic soul and R&B singer was wheeled out onboard a hand cart seemingly bound in a straight jacket. Talk about entrances. From there on out, she was nothing but action, making great use of the stage’s newly installed runway to prance, jump and do some moves ala her biggest influence, the late, great Godfather of Soul, James Brown. She got down on one of his hits, “(I Got You) I Feel Good.” Prince made a brief, cameo appearance when Monae kicked in on his hit, “Let’s Go Crazy” strapping on a borrowed guitar for a few – too few – chords. Naturally, everybody wanted more. The thing about Monae’s set, this night, at last year’s Essence Fest and earlier in her career when she played at a smaller, superlounge stage, is that she and her band are absolutely musical. Despite her dramatic, stark black-and-white, theatrical look, she ain’t messin’ around.

New Orleans artists Sam Williams leading Big Sam’s Funky Nation upstairs in a superlounge and Ledisi headlining in the arena both did their hometown proud and showed the crowd how we do it. They worked it, prowling their respective stages, dancing and having fun. In spirit, Prince remained in the house on Saturday night, with Big Sam blowin’ some trombone on his rendition of “Purple Rain.” The night before, Williams was spotted in the audience diggin’ on the Purple One.

The modernistic lighting of the arena stage is certainly flashy and spectacular however if actually watching musicians and not just the star perform is a priority, it can be a drag. The Roots, the super solid, hip/hop soul band, primarily works as an ensemble with co-founder, rapper Tariq Trotter up front. So at the Dome, most of the group, including one of its most visual members, drummer Questlove remained in the dark along with the keyboardist and others. Guess we’re spoiled by seeing the animated musicians interacting on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.” Many guests including Nelly, Common and Jazzy Jeff took a lot of the spotlight. Hey, but The Roots sounded good.

All eyes were focused on the mysterious Erykah Badu who donned an enormous, white cowboy hat similar in style to the chapeau famously worn by Pharrell Williams at the Grammy awards. Badu offered a jazz-tinged soul set that was enhanced by her humorous and sometimes blue interludes. Exotic in her appearance and nature, Badu’s intimate relationship with the audience and the accessibility of her performance made her Sunday night set a highlight.

Keyboardist Robert Glasper, performing for the third time in New Orleans in just a year – last year at Essence and at the Civic Theatre this winter – drew a respectable crowd at a superlounge on Sunday considering the fact that crowd-pleaser, vocalist Charlie Wilson was performing on the big stage at the same time. There was just enough time to catch Wilson engaging the on-its-feet, dancing crowd with his fun “Party Train.” Meanwhile, Glasper, who first drew attention as a modern jazz artist, and his band enthralled the extremely attentive audience with his modernistic, avant-garde, electronic, brave new world take on a jazz-rooted style. The show ended with vocalist/saxophonist Casey Benjamin singing Daft Punk’s mega-hit, “Get Lucky” through a voice-altering vocoder. The night before, the song’s co-writer and guitarist, Nile Rodgers performed the hook-heavy tune to a very appreciative audience on the big stage.

It was unfortunate though predictable that legendary, multi-Grammy winning vocalist Lionel Richie wasn’t the right artist to close the Essence Festival on Sunday night and folks filed out early. Few musicians or bands have just the right attitude and verve to rev up an already, happily exhausted audience after many attendees had been partying at the Dome for maybe three and now perhaps four – with the new addition of Thursday – nights of music. Richie, who often sat at a grand piano – a rarity at Essence – is, after all, acclaimed more for his laid-back style on tunes like “Lady” than party-down music. Only Beyoncé’s 2013 closing show at the festival has rivaled Frankie Beverly and Maze’s festival finales, a spot the much-loved, dance-friendly group held for years. Mass line dancing throughout the arena would ensue with hugs and smiles all around. So who will close next year? Essence Fest fans are already eagerly awaiting the answer.

This article originally published in the July 14, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.