Alicia tackles race, gender, and sexuality – she believes that we have devolved beyond cavemen through our judgments of people. Alicia Keys is one of those performers who uses her platform for all the right reasons. This fact was extremely evident during the concert. Here, is so much more than just an album: it’s a message. At one point, this connection was so strong, that she said: “I’m feeling you, and you’re feeling me, I know this”. Then Alicia moved to her song “ In Common,” celebrating that what makes us different makes us special, and fresh.Īlicia appears so genuinely happy when performing, and her connection to the audience is visceral. There was an acoustic aspect to this version of her song, and the beat had a subtle remix that added freshness to her voice. Perhaps my favorite part of the performance was when Alicia sang her revamped version of ‘ Fallin’’. During ‘ One Love’, Alicia brought out Nas, the rapper, and they musically jived together. Every single movement she made was an expression of her art. Alicia was comfortable, engaging, and her dancing exhibited so much rhythm. Understandably, they could not have practiced this timing in Times Square, yet not one single mistake was made, so bravo sirs and ma’ams.Īlicia was performing on her home turf, in New York, and you could tell – she was right at home on that stage. The coordination of the graphics to the song lyrics was perfection. Eight of the billboards in Times Square were taken over by the concert, and they provided imagery that enhanced Alicia’s music and messages. This exciting stunt was simply the expression of enjoying and creating new music, just for the sake of art.īefore I continue talking about Alicia Keys, I have to give a shout-out to whoever was responsible for the graphic displays. The music was fresh, improvised, and deliciously unique. During her song, ‘ You don’t Know my Name’, Alicia called out Q-Tip, and a Piano v. There were a total of FOUR musical guests during Alicia’s concert, and Q-Tip was the first. And we, as an audience, were all ‘here’ to live in the moment, hence the no-phone rule. Her new album is called ‘Here’, and fittingly, she went through all of the reasons she was ‘here’ in Times Square: she was here to represent expression, equality, and love. As someone who does not think life should be experienced through a screen, I fully endorsed this suggestion.Īlicia Keys is remarkably eloquent. She encouraged everybody to put their phones down, and just be present in the moment. After wetting the audience’s appetite with a song, she addressed them, briefly talking about the overall message of her new album, and then she did something that made me jump for joy. That being said, Alicia’s unbelievable voice was only a fraction of what made her concert so great. There are few artists that are better live than they are in the recording studio – Adele is one of them, Ed Sheeran is another – Alicia Keys is exemplary of this type of artist. Emotion drips from every word she sings, and to be in the presence of that is awe-inspiring. As opposed to addressing the crowd, she went straight to the piano, and started playing her new song: “ The Gospel.” I must say: her voice is rich, pure, and simply flawless. When Alicia walked up, you can imagine the reaction from the crowd – people screamed, people yelled, people showed their adoration in any way they could. I have never felt so woefully inadequate to cover an event, but I will do my best to at least give you an essence of the earth-shattering concert Alicia gave.īefore Alicia took to the stage, classic R&B tunes blasted through the speakers, to get the eager audience pumped up.
How do you put such a meaningful performance into words? I am painfully aware that typed sentences cannot remotely do justice to the profoundness of Alicia Keys’ concert. I have an abundance of material to write about, but I find myself struggling to determine what I should say. I remember leaving the concert certain that this would be the easiest article I would ever write, because every single song had so much importance and meaning.
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