I have always thought Alicia Keys is a very good singer, but never knew just how amazing she is until watching her performance at the 12/12/12 concert.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmazCRvikiE
THE SOUL OF MISS KEYS
The word “soul” has been bandied about for years, but real soul singers have come and gone and what we now have, mostly, are almost the antithesis of soul in soul-less and nice, polite Taylor Swift-type Pop and the gimmickry of Kei$ha- the dollar sign in her name says it all- Rihanna and Lady GaGa who has started something and needs to keep reinventing herself to continue being a relevant gimmick. And then there’s Alicia Keys.
Watching and listening to her perform made me realize just how readily we accept the average and put it up on a pedestal because, well, perhaps, ‘cos there’s nothing much of any worth out there and so we tend to promote and exaggerate extremely average talent- especially singers.
Singers in a rock band, one can try and hide their weaknesses and pick marks though at this 121212 concert, Roger Daltry was particularly horrendous. He was bad before and he’s simply crap now and has always needed Pete Townshend to hide his weaknesses.
And then there’s Alicia Keys. She said so much with her way too short performance and what came through for me was how much she sang OUT, but without it coming across as being affected and contrived. So many singers out there trying to make it sound so forced and faked out and become even more affected when cheered on by many of us who haven’t heard a truly amazing singer for a very long time or never ever really have heard someone sing with the classic and stylish soul of an Alicia Keys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlgNs6uv8tQ
So though it was embarrassing to hear Daltry bellow his way through five tedious songs, smile and appreciate the fitness of Mick Jagger as he strutted around like a seventy year old rooster, tadmire the maturity and coolness of Clapton, respect Eddie Vedder singing with Roger Walters and cringe listening to the histrionics of Adam Sandler massacre Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, I was just glad for those five minutes of Alicia Keys and which separated the men from the boys and the bland from the very soul of music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnvqCIeZGGQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zqv4YI9PiE
Thank You for the reminder that many I hear and sometimes write about as having “great talent” or even “potential” is simply ‘cos I had forgotten what real talent sounds like.
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THE MAGIC OF MCCARTNEY
It’s amazing how he remains relevant and his first-time ever ‘live’ jam with the members of Nirvana was extraordinary- Paul McCartney up there at the 121212 concert with Pat Smear, Krist Novoselik and the brilliant Dave Grohl.
Fire me for saying this, but their version of “I’ve Got A Feeling” was even better than the Beatles’ recording. Kurt Cobain, John and George must have been looking down and smiling. Or else, John could have been looking down and wryly saying, “He could never rock out.”. But I doubt it.
McCartney is one amazing fucking musician and with the greatest repertoire of diverse originals in the world. And when he introduced yes, Alice Keys, up onstage to perform her “Empire State Of Mind”, I shed a tear. This was music that cut to the soul and heart of the matter. Ahhhh, that voice and with Macca being her personal cheerleader. It couldn’t get any better and for a great cause.
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