Incredible is the only word that can be applied to Janelle Monáe’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl last night. Hell, it can be applied to Janelle Monáe in general. I bought her latest album, The Electric Lady, based on a few raving reviews I’d read and became an immediate fan after listening to it just once. Songs like “Q.U.E.E.N.”, “Dance Apocalyptic”, and “Electric Lady” are ridiculous musical fun, blending soul, hip-hop, dance and pop in an imaginative and glorious way. The rest of the album is just as compelling, where she takes chances singing what could be a thrilling James Bond soundtrack to owning some amazing and soaring ballads, then back to something like what Michael Jackson and James Brown would be proud of in their glory days. She’s basically amazing.
Last night’s concert solidified all that for me, and also made me (MADE ME) buy her other 2 albums off of iTunes, as she sang some songs from these that I absolutely fell in love with, like “Tightrope”. While blowing everyone in the Bowl away with just her own endless supply of energy and talent (the singing and dancing she does are insane), she then brought in a surprise special guest: Stevie Wonder!!!!!!! The crowd lost its shit when he came in. They sang James Brown’s “I Feel Good” together after she had already burned the house down performing it by herself – bringing him in just made it even that more epic. He then played on the keyboards for a while before leaving, which was just amazing.
It was just an incredible show. I clearly just jumped ahead into the whole concert itself as you should do yourself a favor and become a Janelle Monáe fan too – you’ll not be sorry. Other things happened there too though! Before the concert, a group of us met up at Picnic Spot 3 for some pre-show eating and laughing; while at the show, Larry & I were apart from that group as we had bought our tickets way earlier, and ended up meeting our seatmates and having a great time laughing with them too.
In the end – it was a fantastic night. I didn’t write the setlist down at time as I knew I wasn’t going to know all her songs, but I did find it online – I’m re-purposing it here as I’ll have to recreate it for my iTunes:
Janelle Monáe setlist at the Hollywood Bowl, June 22, 2014
Thus Sprach Zarathustra (her entry music)
Suite IV Electric Overture
Givin Em What They Love
Dance Apocalyptic
Sincerely, Jane
Q.U.E.E.N.
Electric Lady
Victory
I Want You Back / ABC (Jackson 5 covers)
Cold War
Tightrope
I Got You (I Feel Good) (James Brown cover w/ Stevie Wonder)
PrimeTime
Let’s Go Crazy (Prince cover)
What an Experience
My Pics from Janelle Monáe at the Hollywood Bowl, June 22, 2014
Picture from Maj - Larry & I had bought out tickets previously so we weren't sitting with this group, but we did picnic together!22-Jun-2014 20:25, Apple iPhone 5, 2.4, 4.12mm, 0.067 sec, ISO 800
And oh yeah, she brings out Stevie Wonder halfway through the show!22-Jun-2014 21:47, Canon Canon PowerShot SX600 HS, 6.3, 71.692mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 1600
