After a seven year hiatus, earlier this year the soulful brother with hair that most women would have died for made his way back on to the music scene with a new image and a sexy sound that got everyone talking and once again had women highly interested.
The one and only Maxwell hopped across the pond to the UK and I was one of the many fortunate to witness the phenomenal artist and his amazing band live in concert at the Birmingham o2 Academy on Wednesday October 28 as part of his UK tour.
The night got off to a bit of a late start and there was no supporting act. This is usually the type of activity that leaves fans annoyed and feeling robbed at the end of the night. But I can honestly say that not one person had a bad thing to say abut the Brooklyn artist as he left every single person in the academy totally satisfied, especially the ladies, and as for the men, well, if they felt that they were being slightly left out Mr Maxwell assured them that if they came to show with a lady, by the end of the night they sure as hell would be more than satisfied! But if they were with a woman that would deliver anything less than complete satisfaction, to send her up on stage and her mind would soon be changed! As I’m a single young lady it was very hard to refrain myself from screaming out “I’ll come up on stage with you anytime boo-bee!” But I guess that the thing or should I say person that stopped me from going wild like a groupie with no other life ambitions than to be with the star of the night was my dad sitting to my right!!! (Note to one’s self, next time leave dad at home!)
The energy throughout the whole show was amazing, the vibes were great and Maxwell sounded great!! He gave us good strong 15+ songs on the night dressed in a well fitted black suit and white shirt which was very mature and sexy, a very good look.
He made the show very personal for all fans by mentioning a couple times on the night how “wack” it was that there were barriers in front of the stage blocking him from fully connecting and getting closer to his fans.
As the night started to get in to full swing which was pretty much straight away, he was genuinely surprised and humbled by the love and support from the audience and constantly thanked us for remembering him. There were a couple moments where he expressed to the crowd how much he couldn’t believe that we knew the words to his songs. Now if that’s not humble I don’t know what is.
He performed tracks from all Four studio albums ‘Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite’, ‘Embrya’, ‘Now’ and his astounding comeback album ‘Black Summers’ Night’ giving each of his band members the chance to shine on different tracks letting the crowd know just how important his band are to him.
Each song was a hit and the band were on point throughout the night in their black matching attire. There were moments when he had the crowd again especially the ladies captivated and had all emotions invested in the songs, especially the one’s that told us all just how down a dirty he got behind closed doors, accompanied by his
thrusting dance moves which had a few ladies going wild and working up a sweat, but I think its safe to say that the song of the night that everyone was waiting for was ‘This Woman’s Work’. As soon as the first note dropped the whole crowd started cheering and from start to finish all eyes and ears in the academy were fixated on the stage, but that’s not to say that all the other songs didn’t go down just as good like ‘Until the cops come knocking’, ‘Stop the world’, Lifetime, and of course ‘Pretty wings’ which along with the finale song ‘Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder)’, the huge hit from early 1996 had the star truly at his humblest moment of the night as it reminded us as well ad him why we all fell in love with the caramel complexioned brother in the first place and why we never forgot him.
Over all it was an amazing show and worth every penny, it was refreshing to see real talent mentally, physically, emotionally and humbly connected with his audience and expressing his true gratitude towards the people who allow him to do what he loves.
