Girl from Another Planet

One of the very few perks of living in this icy outpost is that it surprisingly gets a bunch of great musical acts. I think it’s because they decide to try out the show and work out the kinks here before taking it on to larger metropolitan areas. But whatever the reason, it was one of the little things that made living here bearable.

One of the concerts I checked out near the end of last year was Janelle Monae. The Kansas City born, ATL living Afro-punk star was the opening act for some cat named Jaime Liddell. I still have no idea who he is as I didn’t stick around to watch his set. However, her set was absolutely amazing. If you don’t have her album, Metropolis: The Chase Suite (and shame on you if you don’t), her set is basically a straight adaptation of the studio performance. However, whatever amount of energy you thought she put into the album is greatly exceeded in the stage show. She dances, turns, kicks, swings her hair, and moves her hips nonstop all while still singing flawlessly and not running out of breath. You would think that she went to the Matthew Knowles singers’ boot camp. It was truly a remarkable site to see. She has a stage presence that is strikingly similar to Andre 3000 (circa “Hey Ya”), right down to the permed-out guitar players. This is probably not by coincidence, considering that she was “discovered” by Big Boi and appeared on both his Purple Ribbon All-stars Compilation and the Idlewild soundtrack.

Her voice is strong and robust. Not really what you would expect from someone who is so tiny. It really filled the room even with the drums blaring and guitar thrashing. And just to prove that she can really carry a tune, she takes a break to sing a cover of “Smile.” It was totally beautiful. Her voice was a rich as Swiss milk chocolate. It was definitely a contrast to the rest of the show, but somehow still worked. The slowdown also helped the crowd to catch its breath before she continued with the more upbeat fare.

Although the crowd was sparse (probably due to the demographics of this area), she still decided to do a stage dive. This resulted in me literally being the only one holding her up at one point, and that is when I realized that she is really little. Like really, really little. Like she may weigh 100 pounds little. But after passing her off to another concert patron, she eventually made her way back to the stage and continued the show. She finished with the song “Lettin’ Go”, which is probably her most recognizable tune, before ceding the stage to her band mates who lit into a five minute jam session. The permed-out guitar players did their best Jimi Hendrix impersonations and the drummer head-banged while beating out some monster rhythms. He ended by throwing his drumsticks into the crowd of which I managed to snag one. I even was able to get Janelle to sign a copy of her album after the show. Needless-to-say, I left the show as a very happy camper.

If you have not checked out Janelle’s album yet, I highly recommend that you do so. You can hear some of her songs at her website www.jmonae.com or MySpace page. There is also a new special edition of the album available through iTunes. If you get a chance to see her live, definitely go. The show is high-energy, she sings her heart out, and on top of all of that she is extremely gracious to her fans. What more could you ask for?