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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > February > 07
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Kanye West at Gwinnett Arena May 4
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark your calendars: shining star Kanye West is going to hit the stage at Gwinnett Arena May 4 with Rihanna, NERD and Lupe Fiasco.
Tickets go on sale February 15 at 10 AM via Ticketmaster. This looks to be a quick sellout. Prices are forthcoming.
John Legend in flight, and in concert
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Aboard Delta Flight 9775 - There’s the in-flight entertainment travelers often prefer to sleep through at 7 in the morning, and then there’s this:
Five-time Grammy winner John Legend performed a Delta Air Lines first Thursday - a 30-minute concert some 35,000 feet above the ground between New York and Los Angeles.
The unusual show was one of many prizes some 40 people across the country, and their guests, won in a CBS sweepstakes. (CBS will air the Grammy Awards this Sunday. And Delta is the official airline of the ceremony).
Among the winners were Jimmy and Sherry Allred (middle picture) of Rome, Ga. . “For a long time I didn’t believe in things like the lottery, didn’t believe people could win something great like that,” said Mrs. Allred, a 35-year-old respiratory therapist. “But for me to just be online reading the news, and just submit one entry and win, I’ve changed.”
“I think we need to get some lottery tickets when we get back,” added her 41-year-old husband, a Floyd County canine officer.
For the couple, seeing the R&B singer-songwriter was fun, but they were hoping to spot country’s Rascal Flatts or Carrie Underwood at the Grammy rehearsal, the awards show itself, or the after-party - all of which they’d won access to.
For Legend - well, probably for everyone aboard Delta flight 9775 - it was also quite an experience.
“I rarely do shows this early,” he remarked from the front of the coach seats, where he played keyboards with a guitarist and two background singers.
“I never do shows at this altitude.”
The altitude, perhaps, played a roll in how crisp - or not - the sound was on the aircraft. For certain, the national media (CBS, MTV, The TV Guide Channel) seated in between the winners and Legend - or more specifically, their cameras - obstructed the winners’ view a bit.
Still, they snapped along as Legend sang “Save Room.” His introduction to “P.D.A.” amused. (“It’s about doing it in places where you might get caught - even an airplane bathroom,” he said standing next to an airplane bathroom). His Grammy winning ballad “Ordinary People” drew the most energetic response from the otherwise drowsy passengers. And smartly he began the set (at 9:14 a.m., mind you) with “Get Lifted”. (One of the lines: “So much I want to show you, I’ll take you high.”)
Afterwards, Legend entertained questions from his captive audience, including, who his role models are (Nelson Mandela, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Oprah Winfrey, stevie Wonder); what instruments he plays (“I might play the guitar, but I don’t know how yet”); and the last song he heard that stopped him dead in his tracks (it was in the new MacBook Air commercial, but he doesn’t know the name of the song, or the female singing it. “It’s great though!”)
Legend added that he is also two-thirds of the way into his third major label studio recording. And in addition to working with Pharrell and Will.i.am on the upcoming CD, he’s also spent some studio time in Atlanta with R&B singer-songwriter Ne-Yo; plus he’s gotten a verse from Andre “Dre” Benjamin of local rap duo OutKast.
“With every album I make different progress, I’m in a different mood,” he explained. “The last album was kind of romantic and moody, I would say. The first album was kind of a hip-hop classic soul thing. And this one’s kind of like a little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of pop, and then just like, it’s kind of eclectic.”
What would you like to hear next from Legend? More lounge-like tracks such as “Save Room”? Or more soulful offerings such as his debut single, “Used to Love U”?
Eagles Add Show No. 4
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Despite earlier protestations to the contrary, the Eagles will add a fourth show to an upcoming run at the new Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park in Alpharetta.
The pioneering country-rock act has tacked a May 20 date to the previously announced May 14, 16 and 17 shows. Tickets for the new date go on sale Monday, Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster (404-249-6400).
So far, these shows are the only announced U.S. dates for the Eagles — Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. It will also be the first rock show at the new 12,000-seat venue in North Fulton.
The tour comes on the heels of last fall’s “Long Road Out of Eden,” a No. 1 album and the band’s first new studio album since 1979’s “The Long Run.” The big demand for tickets shouldn’t be a surprise, considering that the Eagles’ greatest hits set is the biggest selling album of all time in the U.S. at more than 29 million.
