Ms. Lauryn Hill is making us wait.
She’s late to the stage, but the audience – without doubt one of The Twilight Concert Series more multicultural – doesn’t care. And neither do I.
I think we would all wait another hour. We would probably wait two more hours. We’ve all waited years to see her perform, and we’ll happily wait some more while the crowd and I dance to classic rap and R&B favorites.
When she did arrive, it was without a doubt, one of the warmest receptions I’ve seen from the Twilight Crowd. We collectively wanted her to know how much we missed her, and how happy we were that she was back. We didn’t care if she had abandoned us for 16 years. Finally, we’ll get to see a live performance of Hill’s back catalogue; her offerings from the past two decades backed with a full ensemble.
It’s a strange but nostalgic experience, hearing re-mixed tracks from Hill’s acclaimed album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill – released 16 years ago – performed and received as if they had been newly released.
Such is the rarity of live shows from the one time Fugees member.
Beside putting her musical career on hold and underground, Hill had been locked up in prison for 3 months after failing to pay taxes on more than $1.8 million in income she earned between 2005 and 2007.
(FUN FACT: Lauryn served time in the very same prison that “Orange Is The New Black” is filmed.)
But now she’s back, and just as beautiful and soulful as we remember
Hill commands attention, pointing her finger at various band members and demanding that they improvise on the spot. But she’s dressed in white, and looks like some delicate angelic being while doing it.
Hill seemed quite happy to be back on stage, showing many reasons why she can still sell out a venue with no album or hit single in about 16 years.
As she danced, and busted out rhymes at a machine gun pace, she delivered each and every song like it was the night’s show-stopper. There was no beat missed in her entire two hour set.
