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Bjork brings ‘Icelandic soul’ to the Fox
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When attending a concert by elfin Icelandic musical phenomenon Bjork, you can dress up to the nines, put on new threads, try out the whole spool, knock yourself out.
You still won’t exceed the lady on stage.
“No matter what you have on, as soon as she walks out from behind the curtain, you’re instant schoolteacher.”
So said Brett, an Atlanta hairdresser, who looked sharp at Monday’s sold-out show at the Fox Theater wearing leopard skin platform shoes and a red Mohawk.
But when Bjork finally did appear, in long hair and flowing Guinivere sleeves, it wasn’t her outfit that set style standards — at least it wasn’t on the level of the Leda-and-the-swan getup she rocked at the 2001 Academy Awards show — but her musical statements that scored high.
In her first show in Atlanta since her days with the band The Sugarcubes, she created remarkable soundscapes, blending the artificial fibers of techno sounds with the breathable, natural weave of a dozen or so horn players billed as an all-female, all-Icelandic brass band.
After an opening set by reggae-tinged Santo Gold, Bjork’s girl-power band trotted onstage, each member attached to a bicyclist’s red flag, bouncing and shining in the black light.
The roaring audience was on its feet from the flamethrowing kickoff, “Earth Intruders,” a martial stomp which is also the lead-off song on Bjork’s latest recording, “Volta.”
On top of it all was the commanding presence of Bjork’s inimitable rough-hewn voice, which was in fine form — air-raid-siren strong and yet always tuneful.
“She’s got Icelandic soul,” said an ecstatic Angie Evans, an Atlanta teacher who has waited half of her 31 years to see Bjork in concert.
An in-depth profile of the most famous Icelandian published in the New Yorker magazine in 2004 put her appeal in a nutshell. She adores Stockhausen and is comfortable with the extremes of classical music, but is equally as happy on the dance-floor with Tricky, Timbaland and Timberlake. In that profile she tells her producer the sound she wants: “A little Justin, a little Karlheinz.”
And so it was Monday, a night of culture high, low and sideways.
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Arcade Fire blazes at Civic Center
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Arcade Fire has already released the year’s best rock record, “Neon Bible,” and Tuesday night at the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center, the band — 10 members strong — put on a blazing show that married dark cynicism with exuberant idealism.
The show lasted played for about 90 minutes, drawing from “Bible” and its excellent predecessor, “Funeral,” two albums that the fans obviously knew intimately. Win Butler, Arcade Fire’s lumbering and occasionally severe frontman, seemed delighted to be here in Atlanta, thanking the audience profusely and mentioning that a dollar from every ticket had gone to charity.
Good vibes carried throughout the show, and they grew as the show progressed and the material grew more and more cathartic. This is impressive considering that Arcade Fire songs tend to grapple with disaffection and fear, emotions that seem to have been boiling for a long time.
But the Arcade Fire does not believe in moping. It believes in waking up, banding together, turning darkness into light. Sometimes the band communicates these messages with words — song lyrics, of course, but also stage comments. (Near the end of the set, Butler encouraged far away fans to pour down the aisles and get closer to the stage.)
Other times, the band communicates through surging melodies and crashing rhythms and wordless, full-throated vocals. Like U2 and Bruce Springsteen, the Arcade Fire has a rare gift for creating a communion with its audience. The band may write songs about alienation. But out in the crowd, there was a palpable feeling of unity.
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‘Unpredictable’ windup for Foxx’s Fox stand
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jamie Foxx’s “Unpredictable” tour lived up to its name during his final show at the Fox Theatre Sunday night.
Still recuperating from a cold, the sometimes weary actor/comedian/singer rocked and romped the stage with the fervor of a Sunday preacher just before passing the collection plate.
Foxx seamlessly moved from raunchy comedian in a blingy T-shirt and jeans to smooth operator crooning love songs in a designer suit — and back again. This explains his repeated refrain: “I’m an Oscar winner … but I’m ghetto, too.”
But the biggest unpredictable moment of the night had to be surprise guest Ludacris, who performed Saturday during the free Big Dance/Final Four concert at Centennial Olympic Park. The cheering crowd at the Fox, who was already in a frenzy every time Foxx muttered a titillating note, went insane as Luda ripped through a few songs including his own hits “Move B**” and “Money Maker.” In fact, Fox Theatre crews might want to double-check the girders because the dancing crowd made the balcony vibrate like a pimped out Chevy on Ds.
Early on, Foxx told the female heavy audience, “Atlanta, you’re the best.” He proved this by name dropping A-town area codes and tracks like DJ Unk’s “Walk it Out.” He even threw in a few Usher-style moves like showing just enough of his abs to make the ladies beg him to “take it off.” (Unfortunatley, he didn’t.)
After spoofing everyone from Mick Jagger to OJ Simpson to Britney Spears (not to mention his rumored love interests), Foxx then segued into a sexy Prince-like production. This music half of the show felt like an extended strip-tease with fog, mood lighting and risque back-up dancers. Eventually, he worked his way through boudoir tips, lascivious fantasy scenes and a striking Ray Charles impersonation. A video montage of his TV, movie and music videos helped tame the crowd somewhere in between.
At the end of the show, it was announced that the after-party would be at the Velvet Room, a nightclub across from former Midtown hotspot Vision. We predict that the night would end up being just as unpredictable as it started.
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Billy Joel at Philips
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CREDIT: Rodney Ho
At age 57, Billy Joel is no longer an angry young man by any stretch of the imagination.
“I’m actually Billy’s dad,” he joked at one point.
He mocked his receding hairline, rubbing his bald head during a reference to a pompadour in “Keeping the Faith.” His vocals were sometimes nearly drowned out by his powerful band. And he didn’t do as much frenetic jumping around during “Big Shot” like he had on past tours.
But middle-aged Billy isn’t so bad. Despite few surprises, his triumphant return to a packed Philips Arena after a five-year break satisfied both casual fans and those who wanted to hear a few oldies but goodies that he hasn’t played in years. He sifted through a bulk of his huge hits from the ’70s (“Movin’ Out,” “Only the Good Die Young”), the ’80s (“Allentown,” “We Didn’t Start the Fire”) and the ’90s (a rockin’ version of “River of Dreams.”) As typical of his shows, his production was frill free and set up so he could sell seats behind the stage as well.
“I really do need the money now,” he cracked. “You wouldn’t believe my car insurance.” Yes, he was alluding to his many vehicular mishaps in recent years.
Dressed in his usual jeans and black-shirt-and-jacket combo, Joel spent most of his time on a rotating piano so fans could see him from all angles. He did add one modern feature: a piano-cam, which enabled folks who could see the small screens off the ceiling of the arena watch his fingers fly up and down the ivories.
Joel front-loaded the more obscure tunes to the first half of the concert, even throwing in a forgotten gem from his very first album, “Everybody Loves You Now” as well as deep cuts such as “Vienna” and “Zanzibar.”
And he made sure he gave plenty of props to Georgia artists. He interluded “River of Dreams” with Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly,” snuck in a bit of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay.” And right before he jumped into “Piano Man,” he sung a portion of “Georgia on My Mind.” (Joel and Ray Charles were quite chummy back in the day.)
His piano skills are still strong, from the eye-popping moves on “Angry Young Man” to a fun instrumental he did for his “Streetlife Serenade” album dubbed “Root Beer Rag.” And since he reportedly stopped drinking, his vocals seem to be in better shape too, especially early on. He even hit the high note in the chorus of “An Innocent Man,” a note on past tours he had outsourced to his female backup singer.
And as he sang songs about bottles of red and bottles of white, the only bottle on his piano was a Dasani.
Oddly, one of the highlights of the concert had nothing to do with Joel per se. Midway through, he let one of his roadies (nicknamed Chainsaw) show off his vocal skills. The big man romped through AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” while Billy canoodled on a guitar. The crowd ate it up.
Odder still: given what a diehard Yankee fan Joel is, it was jarring to see him wearing a Braves cap during “Big Shot.” But he flung it into the audience as soon as the song was over.
But not odd at all: the man’s ability to sponge off the adulation from the crowd was both shameless and amusing.
Set list (concert length: approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, starting at 8:20 p.m., ending at 10:40 p.m.)
Prelude/Angry Young Man
My LIfe
Everybody Loves You Now
The Entertainer
Vienna (voted by the audience over “All About Soul” though it was close)
Allentown
Zanzibar
New York State of Mind
Root Beer Rag
Movin’ Out
Stand By Me (brief excerpt)/An Innocent Man
Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay (shortened version)
Don’t Ask Me Why
She’s Always a Woman
Keeping the Faith
River of Dreams (included a short interlude of “Good Golly Miss Molly”)
Highway to Hell (by his roadie Chainsaw while Billy played guitar)
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Big Shot
It’s Still Rock-n-Roll To Me
You May Be Right
ENCORE
Only the Good Die Young
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant
Georgia on My Mind (shortened version)
Piano Man
Personal disclosure: This is my sixth time I’ve seen Billy. His was the first rock concert I ever attended when I was a teen in 1986. I’ve never had the opportunity to interview him and probably never will given his general aversion to journalists. But I have spoken to his wife Katie Lee briefly and interviewed his daughter last year Alexa Ray. Plus, I had a good friend Daniel Howell from high school spend the summer of ‘85 doing landscaping and cleaning Billy’s boat and motorcycle.
Timbaland and T.I. join Timberlake at Philips
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The singing and dancing juggernaut known as Justin Timberlake is as stylish as a matinee idol and as talented as all get-out. He also happens to have some gifted buddies, two of whom lent him a hand Tuesday night at Philips Arena. (Did you go to the concert? Send us your pictures by clicking here. To view reader photos, click here.)
The Atlanta rapper T.I. and the Virginia producer Timbaland both made guest appearances in a two and a half hour concert that showcased Timberlake’s vocal, musical and physical range.
He sang, he danced he played. He came, he saw, he conquered.
Using the word “range” to describe Timberlake’s voice is admittedly a bit of a stretch — his reedy vocals give Thom Yorke nothing to worry about. But Timberlake knows how to make his voice work for him. He moves easily from falsetto crooning to a kind of speak-singing that falls somewhere between rap and Lou Reed.
In concert, Timberlake determinedly sang several ballads, his weakest song form, in an obvious attempt to illustrate his completeness as an artist (and maybe to pad out his setlist, since he only has two solo albums to draw from). This was so important to Timberlake that he closed the show with an encore of the ballad “All Over Again” instead of the stupendous version of “SexyBack” that came just before, featuring Timbaland.
T.I. showed up very early in the set to deliver his verse on the collaboration “My Love,” the song that the duo recently performed together on the Grammys. He arrived to an explosion of cheers, and left the stage after his job was done, never to be seen again for the rest of the night.
Timberlake handled the collaborative songs with generosity — he may be a superstar, but he’s not a spotlight hog. And as if to drive home the point that he’s a real artist, and not just a pretty face, he played multiple instruments over the course of the night, including a guitar (on “Like I Love You”) and an upright piano (on several tracks).
Above all, though, the show was most memorable for Timberlake’s dancing. For awhile, the Atlanta R&B star Usher seemed to be Michael Jackson’s heir apparent. These days, with Usher between albums, Timberlake is the man.
He is utterly transfixing to watch — his motions look less like reactions to the music and more like extensions of it. He gets up on his toes, he sweeps his leg, he struts and jumps and grinds. Tuesday night, he made it look as though the music was literally flowing through his body.
Latest comments
I grew up listening to Billy Joel in the 70’s. What dawns on me today after seeing him in concert for the second time is Billy’s incredible tallent. He has written so many songs AND performed them in such a memorable way. There is no question... read the full comment by Jim in Marietta | Comment on Billy Joel at Philips Read Billy Joel at Philips
Does anyone know what the music was that was played before the concert started? It sounded like something from a film score, maybe “The Natural.”... read the full comment by Debby | Comment on Billy Joel at Philips Read Billy Joel at Philips
I can’t believe you said Billy “isn’t so bad”. How many artists have hits over 3 decades. He is a legend! I understand why he doesn’t want to talk to reporter that are jerks. I have seen him four times over 30 years and he... read the full comment by Jim | Comment on Billy Joel at Philips Read Billy Joel at Philips
That’s a great set list.... read the full comment by Stephen | Comment on Billy Joel at Philips Read Billy Joel at Philips