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Miss Jackson's girl was in the house.
The highest light among the many highlights of Outkast's third and final #ATLast concert Sunday in Centennial Olympic Park was the surprise appearance of Erykah Badu, who joined Big Boi and Andre 3000 (her "baby daddy" as she called him) for a strutting, wailing and fully mesmerizing performance of "Humble Mumble." With a tiara planted firmly in her rainforest of hair, Badu was the queen of the night.
What a night it was. The concert began at 4 p.m. with a "Southern Round Up" of performers (which included Killer Mike, 8 Ball and MJG and Gipp Goodie). B.o.B. took the stage for a quick set that offered only a truncated version of his hit "Nothin' on You." He did invite some audience members onstage for a Twerk-a-thon, so there's that.
But did the crowd ever get going when B.o.B. the performer made room for B.O.B. the song, and the black curtain covering the stage backdrop fell to reveal Big Boi and Andre. As the crowd chanted "bombs over Baghdad," dusk fell on the park and the drizzly threat of rain evaporated. No one needed to break out those $5 rain ponchos that hawkers everywhere were selling.
What a night it was -- one to make you love being in Atlanta. When these two performers, each brilliant on his own, come together, their music speaks to the romantic, playful, open-minded and gently profane soul of this city.
For an excellent review of Friday's performance, read Melissa Ruggieri , and then turn to Yvonne Zusel's thoughtful take on Saturday's show.
Here, it may suffice to echo their points: that these performers know how to charm their audience, that Andre performed "Hey Ya!" with an openness that makes it sound fresh and exciting, and that the backup musicians and singers contributed both technical precision and real joy. When you see drummer Omar Phillips in person, you realize how much of Outkast's steel-trap sound springs from the propulsive energy of his drumsticks.
The hits kept coming as the night air cooled as a low-flying drone ringed in red and green lights circumnavigated the crowd like a curious spaceship. The blissed-out ATLiens below looked up, smiled, pointed and kept on dancing. It was a night they'd not soon forget.
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