As the summer festival season wraps up for 2010, URB’s contributors tell us who rocked their world during the season’s long days and warm nights.

ERYKAH BADU
@ LOLLAPALOOZA – CHICAGO

www.flickr.com/photos/urbmag/katie.gardiner

The reigning monarch of soul might have taken the stage late and thus been forced to cut her set short, but there is no question Erykah Badu was in full command of Grant Park during the time she had. Backed by a locked-in collective of talented players and singers, Badu presented herself with a striking blonde faux hawk and extreme confidence in her bearing. Arrangements with her band were loose as she played out songs from throughout her career that has always found the places where hip-hop and soul draw mutual influence. Whether dropping a bit of an Audio Two lyric, tapping out a beat on a drum pad, or working one song into the next, Badu’s performance felt easygoing, yet the power she brought to the stage and her vocals was never a question. Noah Levine

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