If you’ve ever been to a live performance, you know that the show itself is only half of the affair. There are many opportunities for you to get excited.
First, you find out the artist is coming to a town near you. You call up your friends, check your schedule, and do everything in your power to make sure you’ll be at the show.
Fast-forward and you’ve bought your tickets and now you’re intently listening to their latest album so you will be able to sing-a-long— well, at least I do. You are finally in the car, on the way to the venue and it’s getting more and more real by the second. Well, I recently had this very same experience!
I was in the middle of perusing through Instagram, as I do daily and I saw the usual jokes, motivational quotes and memes. Then all of a sudden, I came across a post that read: “Does anyone want tickets to the Wale show tonight?” Well yes, as a matter of fact of I do.
It was about 10 a.m. the morning of the show and I took a chance. I purchased two tickets, which turned out to be floor seats!
Now, this is where things started to get crazy. Knowing that I only had one extra ticket, I thought finding one person to go along would be a breeze. Wow, was I wrong! I made a record breaking 26 phone calls before I finally found oneof my close friends, Justin who was down for the ride.
The ticket said start time was 6:30 p.m. but from personal experience, it really meant the show would more likely start arount 8 p.m.
Once we arrived and parked the car, you could feel the enthusiasm in the air. South D.C. was in full-fledged party mode. Men were doing backflips in the street, red carpet photos were being taken, and security was plentiful.
Believe it or not, the security seemed to be just as joyous if not more so than some of the concertgoers. The vibe was stirring outside and easily trickled into the venue. Being that the show was held in D.C., there was this indescribable feeling of culture in the air. People were very responding to the DJs on stage and plenty of dancing was taking place.
One of the standout performances of the night was 27-year-old, D.C. native, Ari Lennox. She performed some of her fan favorites such as: Whipped Cream and Backseat. She had complete command of the stage. She used her sheer vocal range and soulful cadence to captivate those in the arena.
I was impressed by her capability to keep her energy up-tempo, even though some of her songs might be categorized as “down tempo.” She even kept the crowd engaged with a few jokes and keen storytelling. Ari’s set was quite entertaining.
Shortly after Ari’s set, Wale, the man of the hour took the stage. First and foremost, let me say that Wale’s band was immensely gifted. Their set up of percussion, drums and bass opened up the door for a full and rich gogo sound. This twist on Wale’s set made for an exciting event. The audience was already biting their fingernails for Wale to hit the stage, so for him and his band to execute the way they did, it seemed to fulfill a lot of suspense.
Overall, the entire experience was one that I think many people would have enjoyed and for the people actually got to experienced it, I hope they were well entertained. If you haven’t been to a live performance in recent time, I recommend you plan one in the near future— the rush is always exuberating!