January 11, 2012 by Chris | Comments Off

Live show review: Meshell Ndegeocello at the Triple Door

Anyone at the Triple Door Tuesday night for Meshell Ndegeocello’s sold out show on Tuesday night likely came to the same conclusion I did when exiting the venue: this was the first unequivocally great show of 2012.

Ndegeocello, born Michelle Lynn Johnson in Berlin, is a brilliant musician whose show Tuesday night was a powerful experience, accentuated by the tight band playing with her. Drummer Deantoni Parks and guitarist Chris Bruce were at front of the stage, on opposite sides. Keyboardist Jebin Bruni and Ndegeocello were further back, but in the middle of the stage, with the band forming a “C” shape on stage. Each band member had their individual moments to show their considerable talent. No note was wasted and was crystal clear through the Triple Door’s pristine acoustics.

Though the performance was commanding throughout its ninety minutes, Ndegeocello held the audience’s attention the most during the songs with minimal arrangements and relied on her strong vocals, like “Oysters” (from her new album Weather) and the Leonard Cohen cover “Chelsea Hotel.” With two disparate vocal parts, she pulled it off beautifully. Her voice was both strong and delicate, revealing a toughness and/or vulnerability when it needed to be.

You saw a lot of heads nodding during the funked-up take on “Satisfy,” as well as “Dirty World” and “Lola,” which closed the set prior to the encore(s) was a glorious wall of noise behind Bruce’s electric guitar.

I’ve read in a review of her show in Los Angeles last week that she told the crowd, “I’m always trying to do something new, trying to look like a beginner.” The musicianship is too great to look amateurish, but it shows why she rearranges some songs, played a set heavy on the new (but great) album Weather, her tenth, and didn’t play some of her best-known songs like 1993’s “If That’s Your Boyfriend (He Wasn’t Last Night),” the only song in her 20+ year career to hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart. You heard elements of rock, hip hop, soul, funk, jazz and nearly every other genre you could throw out there.

The only real flub came when Ndegeocello introduced one song, her second cover of the evening, as a song by Nick Cave, only to be corrected that it was by Nick Drake.

It surprised nearly everyone when the band returned for a second encore, possibly including themselves. The lights were on and music started to play overhead as people started filing out of the Triple Door, only to rush back to their seats when the band returned. They came back to play a classic that most people knew, the gorgeous “Outside Your Door.” The loudest guy in the Triple Door was shouting not for another song, but “five more minutes.” Probably because it was at 8:55.

Setlist: