Queen Latifah gave fans a taste of the blues, jazz, funk, and soul Sunday night with her Trav'l'in Light tour swing through San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall. Davies proved to be a great intimate venue that worked well for Latifah's easy style, humor, nine piece band and three talented back-up singers. The only thing I wanted more of was the Queen singing more songs. And it seemed awkward to sit down rather than stand up during her more robust numbers---you know complete audience engagement?A generous entertainer, Latifah devoted a little too much time featuring her band members and over produced a finale number with her back-ups. A good singer, not a great one, Latifah holds her own doing funk,the ballad "I Know Where I've Been" from this summer's box office hit, Hairspray, and gives an enjoyable cover of "Poetry Man" and "Georgia Rose."
Queen Latifah's career in show business reads somewhat like a fairy tale, along with hard work, talent, a keen business sense, image shaping, and marketing. There were few young people in the San Francisco audience, which reveals how her career has evolved in demographic positioning over the years. From rapper to film actress, talk show host, film producer, author, product spokesperson, and trying new muscial genres, Latifah more than once thanked us for supporting her throughout her career as she has tried a little of this and that.
She introduced an audience guest, who happened to be the daughter of the songwriter/musician who wrote Trav'lin Light for Billie Holiday. Latifah introduced her father later, he stood onstage behind huge speakers throughout the show. After a standing ovation and leaving the stage, her father reappeared coaxing us to continue applauding--- a little weird since no one needed cajoling to want an encore.
If Queen Latifah comes to your town, go see her. If it's other than a huge stadium, even better.
Photo Credit: Michael Thompson
No comments:
Post a Comment