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D'Angelo & the Vanguard Setlist
Tour Dates
10/01/15 Lean On Him - A Tribute to Bill Withers
10/04/15 Afro-Punk Festival
11/08/15 Fun Fun Fun Fest Read More
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The Second Coming had arrived… though about an hour late, it more than made up for it, in intensity-
D’ Angelo and the Vanguard played a very sold out, more than two hour show at First Avenue in Minneapolis, on a holiday weekend that was definitely in need of a shot of live funk, soul, and blues.
Music-loving fans of the genre were out in droves over the weekend, coming locally as well as from other cities and countries. Prince was hosting a three day “international dance party” at Paisley Park and the mere whiff that he might perform, got people interested and traveling, many of whom put the D’Angelo show, on their weekend schedule as well. As it turned out, the Purple Yoda was on stage for all of ninety seconds, but anyone lucky enough to have a ticket to this show, got more than their fill of the grown man funky stuff.
Coming from a gig the previous night at Paisley, local group LP Music took to the stage a half-hour later than scheduled, to play an extended hour of their blend of instrumental jazz /funk/ soul, after an announcement had been made, that D’Angelo hadn’t even landed in Minneapolis yet.
The group features former Prince collaborators- sax/keyboardist Eric Leeds and multi-instrumentalist Paul Peterson, of fDeluxe fame (a.k.a. The Family). Their initial gig was at this same venue in June 2013, when D’Angelo and Questlove from The Roots asked them to play, and they returned again to open, this time with Quest joining them on drums, for their entire set.
The group’s musical concept is freedom and improvisation, just a groove and a key, which lent itself well to the dual drummers on stage this night, as well as by Peter Schimke and Peterson’s brother Ricky, on keyboards. Leeds played keys as well, as much or more than he picked up the sax, and a stunning “drum battle” ensued mid-set, spotlighting the two dueling percussionists on both ends of the stage.
Not apparently working hard enough after a week of The Tonight Show and playing live, Questlove also added DJ to his night’s responsibilities- spinning a no-boundaries mix of all genres from the last 40+ years of music between sets and after, that flowed together seamlessly and more than got the crowd moving.
After a lengthy break (made less so by Quest’s deft spinning), D’Angelo and ten-piece group The Vanguard took the stage an hour past their scheduled time, to deliver a 140 min. set that, once it found its righteous groove, took no prisoners. The new album, Black Messiah (RCA Records) was surprise released ten days before Christmas and automatically had most music critics shuffling their Top Ten Lists for the year, to include the seminal work.
The man himself was undoubtedly in good spirits, smiling and looking more cut and trimmed than his January SNL appearance, and was in confident, James Brown-like command of his band, often conducting it, via hand signals or subtle head-nods. For guitarist Jesse Johnson (formerly of The Time), it was a homecoming as well, though he chose to mainly stay back, in long coat and ‘70s style floppy hat.
Though the band made it look so, ‘Ain’t That Easy’ was a full-on funk fest, with Prince-like electronic drumbeat and inviting lyrics, “Let your days slip away, come with me.” The overall presentation was highly tight and professional, with each song flowing directly into each other, backup vocalist Joi Gilliam bolstering D’Angelo’s own vocals (which could have been more up front in the mix), and legendary bassist Pino Palladino anchoring the bottom end.
‘Spanish Joint’ featured some noteworthy strumming from other Vanguard guitarist, Isaiah Sharkey, and defiant fists were in the air everywhere for protest anthem, ‘The Charade’. “Where my Brown Sugars at?”, D’Angelo asked, resulting in cheers, and then moved to piano for the main set closing ‘Sugah Daddy’, complete with JB-like false endings, before he announced, “for real, we gotta go”.
Encore one was a blowout medley mostly culled from 2000’s Voodoo, with the main man still smiling, screaming in falsetto, and calling on the band to break, anywhere from one to forty-seven times.
With the crowd still wanting more and chanting, the band returned for an unforgettable ‘Untitled (How Does it Feel), D’Angelo pausing saying, “I’m a take my time” and saying this was their last gig on this leg and the last to feature this set list.
“It feels extra special to wrap it up right here”, he said as the final song stretched to twenty minutes in length, with each member getting a brief solo moment then departing one-by-one, to applause as the crowd sang the song’s chorus.
“It feels SO good, thank you so much”, the now-alone D’Angelo beamed from his keyboard, before departing himself- The Second Coming a memorable success in a venue so legendary for hosting this style of music.
D’ Angelo and the Vanguard played a very sold out, more than two hour show at First Avenue in Minneapolis, on a holiday weekend that was definitely in need of a shot of live funk, soul, and blues.
Music-loving fans of the genre were out in droves over the weekend, coming locally as well as from other cities and countries. Prince was hosting a three day “international dance party” at Paisley Park and the mere whiff that he might perform, got people interested and traveling, many of whom put the D’Angelo show, on their weekend schedule as well. As it turned out, the Purple Yoda was on stage for all of ninety seconds, but anyone lucky enough to have a ticket to this show, got more than their fill of the grown man funky stuff.
LP Music
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The group features former Prince collaborators- sax/keyboardist Eric Leeds and multi-instrumentalist Paul Peterson, of fDeluxe fame (a.k.a. The Family). Their initial gig was at this same venue in June 2013, when D’Angelo and Questlove from The Roots asked them to play, and they returned again to open, this time with Quest joining them on drums, for their entire set.
The group’s musical concept is freedom and improvisation, just a groove and a key, which lent itself well to the dual drummers on stage this night, as well as by Peter Schimke and Peterson’s brother Ricky, on keyboards. Leeds played keys as well, as much or more than he picked up the sax, and a stunning “drum battle” ensued mid-set, spotlighting the two dueling percussionists on both ends of the stage.
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Questlove |
After a lengthy break (made less so by Quest’s deft spinning), D’Angelo and ten-piece group The Vanguard took the stage an hour past their scheduled time, to deliver a 140 min. set that, once it found its righteous groove, took no prisoners. The new album, Black Messiah (RCA Records) was surprise released ten days before Christmas and automatically had most music critics shuffling their Top Ten Lists for the year, to include the seminal work.
D'Angelo and Jesse Johnson
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Though the band made it look so, ‘Ain’t That Easy’ was a full-on funk fest, with Prince-like electronic drumbeat and inviting lyrics, “Let your days slip away, come with me.” The overall presentation was highly tight and professional, with each song flowing directly into each other, backup vocalist Joi Gilliam bolstering D’Angelo’s own vocals (which could have been more up front in the mix), and legendary bassist Pino Palladino anchoring the bottom end.
‘Spanish Joint’ featured some noteworthy strumming from other Vanguard guitarist, Isaiah Sharkey, and defiant fists were in the air everywhere for protest anthem, ‘The Charade’. “Where my Brown Sugars at?”, D’Angelo asked, resulting in cheers, and then moved to piano for the main set closing ‘Sugah Daddy’, complete with JB-like false endings, before he announced, “for real, we gotta go”.
Encore one was a blowout medley mostly culled from 2000’s Voodoo, with the main man still smiling, screaming in falsetto, and calling on the band to break, anywhere from one to forty-seven times.
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D'Angelo |
“It feels extra special to wrap it up right here”, he said as the final song stretched to twenty minutes in length, with each member getting a brief solo moment then departing one-by-one, to applause as the crowd sang the song’s chorus.
“It feels SO good, thank you so much”, the now-alone D’Angelo beamed from his keyboard, before departing himself- The Second Coming a memorable success in a venue so legendary for hosting this style of music.
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D'Angelo and the Vanguard at First Avenue, Minneapolis (06 Sept 2015) |
