Jill Scott @ Merriweather Post Pavillion 8/1/08

On Saturday TheMom and I headed out to Columbia, MD which sits in between Baltimore and DC and is also the home of the Capital Jazz Fest that we talked about a few months back, (click here for that review and pics) for the concert event of the summer.

The lineup included newcomer from the UK, Estelle, The Roots, one of the best singers around Jill Scott and for some local flavor The Godfather – Chuck Brown. The concert lived up to the hype. All of the DC Urea was up in there (it was like a reunion or something). Estelle came on and I could tell only a select few new who she was but when she closed out with her American Boy song you could see the light go on like, “Oh, she sings that!”. The only drawback to her performance wasn’t her. The soundman had her up too loud at first then they turned some speakers off or something and she finished up sounding muffled.

Next up was the bonehead move of the night (note to out of town concert promoters – never book the Godfather in the middle of a show, he should be the closer or as close to the end as possible), they had Chuck Brown come out 2nd. Now I can hear some of you like, “Who is this guy and why shouldn’t he play early?” In this town Chuck Brown is an institution, I don’t care who’s on the bill. No one will get the party going like Chuck. It was like we went to a concert and a house party broke out in the middle of it. Now he came on second so despite the sound being muffled and a summer shower that started up Chuck took the stage to the calls of… Wind Me Up Chuck!! The rain picked up and no one budged from their lawn seating, in the rain the party was at full blast. Fellas, Ladies, Couples, Mothers and Daughters they were all in the moment. See the pics below. Towards the end of his set the rain let up and then it was really on and popping. Everyone was up on their feet moving back and forth with that go-go percussion. By the time Lil Benny asked the crowd, “Are Yall Tired Yet?” I don’t need to tell you what the answer was. By the end of the night my partner who’s from Jamaica, Queens leaned over to me and said, “They should’ve had Chuck play last.” Coming from a New Yorker that tells you how the party was.

The Roots came on next and did their thing. They have so many hits that by the time they wrapped up I felt empty because I still hadn’t heard some of my favorites but I guess that’s what happens when you have a little longevity. Lead Rapper, Black Thought was definitely on point and you know the band was tight. They even had a dude playing a Tuba. Towards the end of their set though their lead guitarist put on a show of his own. You can see a little of it in the video below.

Last but not least Jilly from Philly, Ms. Jill Scott took the stage. Her control of the crowd and using her voice as an instrument is poetry in motion. She ran through songs from her various albums all while playing to the crowd and returning the genuine love that DC has for her. Towards the end she had a special treat. Being in the urea and all I was waiting for her to play her Go-Go song from her first CD, It’s Love. It’s mandatory for her local shows so when she did get ready to do it, Questlove from the roots came back on the drums in addition to her drummer so the both of them were playing different sets. She was then joined onstage by both Chuck Brown and Black Thought. The crowd was excited to see Chuck back so they gave it up for him and he rode the beat for a minute, then Black Thought took the mic and did his thing. It was one of the highpoints of the evening. It looked like the show was wrapping up around this time and my brother and his wife rolled out, well Jill took it to Baltimore real quick with the house music version of He Loves Me, and closed out with a piece she said came to her in a dream.

Definitely a good night that was worth the price of admission. The show kicked off at 6 and wrapped up around 11:30. There was something there for everyone and all of the performers did their thing. Me and TheMom had a ball in the low rent district (the grass seats) and were joined by about 8 of our friends who showed up during various times of the night.

Click here to see a photo gallery of the night and press play below to view some raw video!