Let me start by saying I have very little respect for Doom. His fans are able to understand and be content with the fact that Doom will routinely send out impersonators to perform for him, as he did last night at the near-packed Congress Theater in Chicago, and I respect them for that. But that stuff doesn’t fly for me. I left about 15 minutes through Doom’s set, which was filled with loud bass, horrible lip-synching, and–the only thing I really liked about it–Doom’s hypeman Big Benn Kling-On, the only person who could’ve convinced me to stay.
However, Saturday night was not a complete and total loss by any stretch of the imagination–Mos Def was in the building, and he came with a swagger and presence that made Doom’s lacky impersonator look like he was performing at a high school talent show. What seemed to be a restless audience tired of the mediocre opening acts and faulty sound equipment, which a rap show at a big venue always seems to bring, morphed into the Mos Def fan club with the entire crowd engulfed in one unanimous head nod. Although it was a little difficult to hear any distinct sounds above the bass and echos of the music (a problem that the Congress Theatre always tends to have with shows like this), Mos didn’t let that stop him, blazing through songs from his newest work The Ecstatic with an energy reminiscent of Q-Tip’s live performances. It was real hip-hop in true form, and it never ceased to amaze. Seeing an artist like Mos Def–especially in comparison to the other acts rounding out the bill that night–reminds you that artistry is a true gift, and I was truly thankful that Mr. Boogeyman decided to bestow us with it.
Are you kidding me? If you’re going to write a review for a reputable music mag, you better be able to describe the scene so that readers have a feeling for what it was like. Fail.
Your review totally misses the outrage that the crowd displayed during awful opening act upon awful opening act. DJ Mike Relm had to perform for 2 hours- although he clearly had only planned a 1 hour set. The second hour was pure stall tactic- no scratching as Relm was strung out to make excuses for the delay.
Finally Mos stepped onto a stage littered with beer and water bottles. People were pissed. As for his performance, it wasn’t worth half the price of admission; the playlist was completely disorganized and the overall energy just wasn’t there.
Takeaway from the show:
Look, I love Mos Def’s music, but his live performances are lackluster. More importantly, I think it’s bullshit that Mos essentially endorsed Doom’s total disregard for fans. I don’t expect shit from Doom (a rapper whose appeal is built around meta weirdness and convincing fools that it’s ok to be screwed out of money), but I do expect some fan appreciation from Mos. Dudes need to remember that ALL MUSIC CAN BE DOWNLOADED FOR FREE.
GOT DOOM? …. For a more in-depth discussion of the MFDOOM saga, as well as of course, the most insight that you’ll EVER get into the Artist enigma that we call MFDOOM, from one of his closest confidants – check out the website at http://gotdoom.metalfacerecords.com. Please also note that all participation is FREE–all feedback and comments are listed in the order that they are received–and had been explicitly-requested sometime late last year by MFDOOM, himself.
This review does not at all paint a picture of how this show went.
Here’s how it really went down:
When the news hit that Mos Def and Doom would share a bill in Chicago, cats went wild. A “supershow” somebody on Facebook called it. And it would seem so. Two of the top emcees in modern rap – plus local Chicago heavyweights Qwel & Maker opening – on paper it looks golden. Too bad it was an utter disaster. In hindsight, I feel kind of stupid for expecting anything less. I actually was looking forward to this with great anticipation, as were many of my fellow Chicagoans.
One cannot point the blame to any one party, as this fiasco was a failure on many levels. I will attempt to break them down in way that will allow you – the reader – to experience this “supershow” in all its glory.
1. THE VENUE and/or THE SOUNDMEN
The Congress Theatre is a historic, old-time “movie palace” in the heart of Chicago that was built in the 20’s. It is beautifully ornamented and very spacious; complete with grand auditorium ceiling. As gorgeous and significant as it is, I think this is the wrong venue for a bass-heavy rap show. The sound simply sucks. Every rap show I’ve seen there was just awful. I suspect that this is not only because of the room’s design, but also the soundmen that work there. It makes someone like Qwel (one of the opening emcess) – who is very verbose and potentially hard to understand to begin with – muffled completely by the overblown bass and completely unintelligible. Who knows – if it was mixed better from the soundboard, perhaps it would have actually been enjoyable. But apparently the soundmen were ignorant to the fact that this was even a problem. I imagine them thinking that rap music is “supposed” to sound this way, and patting themselves on the back for a job well done.
2. THE PROMOTER
You know it’s a bad sign when the promoter changes the show date by 2 weeks at the last minute; causing huge inconvenience to everyone who scheduled days off, had travel plans, or booked other shows. But that’s not even the worst of it. To me, most ridiculous thing about this promotion was having 7 (!) opening acts. Nothing against the opening acts, but sitting thru anything more than 3 acts at any show is just exhausting. I don’t know if they were the promoter’s boys or whatever, but it was just a dumb move. Having that many opening acts causes the doors to open at 7pm – and in turn causes the fans have to stand for more than 5 hours to finally see the ones they paid to see, which brings me to the final reason this showed sucked…
3. MOS DEF & DOOM
Picture this; people have paid $35, waited in line outside in the Chicago February cold for 45 minutes if not more, and have now stood on their feet in the cramped venue with bad sound for at least 5 + hours. 12:30am rolls around, and we are informed that Mos Def and Doom have FINALLY arrived to the building.
Wait.
Really?
Just arrived?
You’re telling me these dudes got flown out to Chicago to do a show, and didn’t even have the decency to arrive to the venue until 5 minutes before they go on? How disrespectful is that not only to the fans, but also to the Chicago artists that they’re sharing the bill with? It was an evident diva move that really made me feel disrespected not only as a fan, but as a Chicagoan. Well Chicago was not having it. By the time Mos Def got on, the crowd was already furious and started whipping bottles and garbage at the stage. And did Mos Def apologize for arriving late, or even consider that we’ve been standing there for over 5 hours? Of course not. He just told us to “chill out”. Anyway at least his set was dope. He did like 3 Doom joints, and around 6-7 of his own. He’s a born performer so by the end of his set I had all but forgiven him – even though his set was really no more than 30 min which is unacceptable after the wait that we endured on his behalf. After Mos ends his set with Doom’s standout cut “Curlz” off the Madvillain record, Doom comes out and put a stake right through the heart of the night by lip-synching every song in his brief, abbreviated set. Yes, lip-synching. Oh – his loud, rowdy, and nameless hype-man’s mic was definitely on. Dude was screaming at us to get excited, but Doom was so obviously not rapping – as if he wasn’t even trying to hide it. The performance was limp, uninspired, lazy, and just not creative in any way. It was much more exciting hearing Mos Def do Doom’s songs, because at least he really rapped them and showed passion for the material. After around 2-3 songs of this, the crowd had had enough and started to noticeably thin out. They didn’t miss much though, because after he did 5-6 songs total he abruptly walks off stage, the house-lights go on, and the curtain falls. The crowd all looked at each other with confusion and disappointment on their faces. With a near-post-9/11 unity – we poured out of the theatre with loud boos; and I even heard a dude scream “F- New York hip hop!” It was a sad, sad shame. Outside I ran into some poor kids who drove all the way to Chicago from Michigan just to see the show, and they felt the same way I did. Cold, tired, unfulfilled, and robbed.
That was a great review! Really painted a picture! The DOOM/Most Def debacle reminds me of Kanye West at Bonnaroo ‘08. I too felt extremely disrespected, and as a result, lost all respect for an artist that I loved. So, I know how you felt that night…..it sucks.
I agree with lots you are saying Georg, but your #2 point is just wrong…
The show was rescheduled because all three dates, Chicago, Toronto and NYC had to be rescheduled due to artist scheduling conflicts. The was not the promoters decision or error.
And 4 of those 7 opening acts you mention were djs in the lobby. Not openers. the openers slots took 5 hours because the headliners were an hour and some change late to the venue…
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That’s dope and yo… Yo, yo… I’m feeling that dude Tony Austin. That joint he got with OJ Da Juiceman called “Mr. Make It Happen” is banana’s. I got his mixtape with DJ Drama “The Influence” free at MySpace.com/tonyaustinmusic
Check it out “Mr. Make it Happen”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D573WZAMuys
What show did you see? Mos Def was terrible. He was late as hell and then gave about 30 min or less set. And you even said you couldn’t hear his vocals clearly. Kinda hard to do a mic check when you get to the show that late isn’t it? This show was terrible all around. Mos was as bad as Doom was…only difference was he took the time to fly to Chicago to suck in person.