Sometimes
…That is probably my favorite Anita Baker song. I did not expect her to sing it, but a girl can hope.
I went to see Anita Baker live for the first time today, and it will probably be my last time. I am not the biggest fan of Anita Baker. I like most of her music and own quite a bit of it, but, aside from Sometimes and maybe a few other songs, it is music that I listen to only on occasion. Still, I thought that it might be nice to see her live. My parents have probably been going to her annual concerts in the area since she started them back in 2004 or so. We had discount vouchers for the lawn, so why not for $10.
There was terrible traffic on I-75 on the way to the theater. It eventually went down to one lane. Despite leaving around 6:40, we did not get to the theater until shortly after 8:00pm. It did not matter, though, because the show had not started. In fact, the show did not start until about an hour later at 9:07pm!
Supposedly, she were just giving more people the chance to get there before starting the show. This is why opening acts exist. I can understand if Anita Baker wanted to keep the bulk of the money for herself, but she could have gotten a low budget, local to keep us entertained until she came out to sing. I would not have minded hearing some Monica Blaire or L’Renee or someone.
I fully understand the importance of the interaction between artist and audience. I have even read books about it and studied it in Music classes. However, far too much time was spent by Anita Baker accepting flowers and gifts from the audience, trying to hype up the crowd, simply talking, and essentially pleading for applause and enthusiasm. If she had just come out singing her heart out, then the audience would have eaten it up and automatically given her the attention that she seemed to crave all night. Opening acts help with this as well.
Nevertheless, when Anita Baker was actually singing, she did a wonderful job. Her voice sounds the same. Plus, this woman has come a long way from the early years when all that she knew to do was stand and shake her leg a little while she sang. Long time fans should know what I am talking about 
.
Concert Rundown
The concert opened with Mystery and Sweet Love, followed by Been So Long. After that, Anita Baker spent quite a bit of time accepted flowers and gifts. Then, she sang Happy Birthday to those celebrating their special day.
Following that, she went on to sing Same Ole Love, No One in the World, and Caught up in the Rapture. Then, she took impromptu requests from the audience. This was a nice thing to see, as not too many artists do this. She even called the Metro Detroit crowd “special” and said that “this only happens at home.” I was on the lawn, so I could not get in a request for Sometimes. However, she did sing a verse, chorus, or combination thereof from Perfect Love Affair, Talk to Me, Priceless, and Good Love during this portion of the concert.
At that point, it was back to the planned set list where we were able to hear It’s Been You, Lonely, and Giving You The Best That I Got.
It was around that time that she started talking about being short on time. For those of you who do not know, DTE Energy Music Theater and the surrounding area have a noise ordinance that pushes for concerts to be done by 11pm. She said that she had time for one more song and sang You Bring Me Joy featuring Gerald Albright who had been playing saxophone with the band all night–a nice treat for his fans.
She left the stage and people began to leave. You never leave until the house lights come on in the theater. Anita Baker came back out and sang Fairy Tales. There were still a couple of minutes left after that, so she did a bit of Angel, eventually going over time. Imagine how many more songs she could have sang had she started on time, or even just a little earlier, or had she not spent so much time trying to get the audience to dote on her. Hmm.
Comments