Sunday, October 4, 2015

LIANNE LA HAVAS :)

Fourth concert of my life, and the second of two in a one-week span. I am on an ongoing cloud of inspiration that nothing can conquer right now.

Lianne La Havas is just... a vision. A pure and magnificent vision. She sang the two songs that I'd been waiting all evening to hear ("Wonderful" and "Midnight"), and she moved me so much that tears streamed down my cheeks as I sang a long. And she sang the whole rest of her new album in addition to gems from her first one. She truly shared her gift with us, and Detroit responded with so much love that I think she was taken a little off guard. But in a good way! Thank you for sharing your gift with us last night. I came to learn and heal, and you made it possible for me to do that. Good luck with the rest of your North American tour!
Oh, and speaking of learning, I'd like to make a point about concert-going as research. I had an inkling that I was doing this back at the Chrisette Michele concert last year, had a more concrete feeling last week with Stromae, but was fully intentional when I went to see Lianne La Havas last night. I studied her music for an entire week, listening to both of her albums back to back everyday, just so I could be prepared to be enveloped in her mesmerizing vocal stylizing and thoughtful lyricism.

I realize that I go to see these artists because I'm seeking something; not just to be entertained, but to be schooled and challenged. How do these people I admire embody their own "maximum expression" (shoutout to Kanye West)? Ho do they give themselves to their audience? How do they transform the person-as-image that people know through a recording or video or promotional photo, into a living and moving artistic being right in front of everyone's faces? And not only that,  but such a being that people can connect to, be disarmed by? Or called by? Every time I see a an artist (especially a vocalist) perform live, something in me responds as if I've received a charge from a superior: I must make a way to do this too. 

So thank you Lianne! You taught me a lot and made me feel things deeply, and that's all I could've asked for.


Check out my other pics from last night here:  

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