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Home > Atlanta Music Scene > Archives > 2008 > November > 13
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Maxwell In Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So many years out of the boy band era, it was a little hard to recognize at first.
But three songs into R&B singer Maxwell’s first concert in Atlanta in seven years, there it was: the distinct, high-pitched squeal of excited women.
He still has it, ladies and gentleman— and honestly, that was apparent from his very first song (“Get To Know Ya”); made even clearer in his resplendent covers of Al Green’s “Simply Beautiful” and Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work”, and acknowledged throughout the evening by those squealing women, on their feet and wailing along during most of Maxwell’s sensual Atlanta Civic Center show.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you this evening,” he told a long-sold-out crowd that included state Sen. (and Atlanta mayoral candidate) Kasim Reed, V-103’s Joyce Littel and Miss Sophia, Sugar Hill co-owners Freddy Luster, Richard Dunn and J Carter and director of Atlanta’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs, Camille Love. “I don’t have an album out. I don’t have a single. I don’t have a hit.”
But again, what Maxwell continues to have — even without his signature curly locks — is a personality and an individuality that still resonates in a genre apparently fixated on finding a new Usher. (Or a younger Michael Jackson).
And not only did he and his nine-member band’s performance heighten anticipation for new material — moreso than the songs (“Pretty Wings”) he unveiled Wednesday— it offered hope that some of the other incredibly promising R&B recluses who seem to have decided to sit the 2000s out, might be OK. (Namely D’Angelo and Lauryn Hill).
Speaking of which, opening act Jazmine Sullivan’s first single “Need U Bad” had many making lofty Hill comparisons. But the artist who rocketed onto the scene with two Top 10 R&B singles right now, sputtered on the stage; lacking a cohesion and a presence that exuded from the headliner.
If you were there last night, give us your review. (And see the rest of our photo gallery HERE ).
