Music & Concerts
Long-dormant Revolution blazes in Prince tribute concert
April Fillmore show manages to honor late legend without trying to replace him
The Revolution contributed to some of the most important recordings of the last four decades, appearing on Prince albums like ā1999,ā āPurple Rain,ā āAround the World in a Dayā and āParade.ā āPurple Rainā made them more famous than most backing bands.
The young, no-nonsense and blazingly talented guitarist Wendy Melvoin was one of the few who would stand up to Prince (in āPurple Rainā and in real life). Her partner Lisa Coleman is a gifted pianist, songwriter and vocalist, someone who helped bring dimensions of color to Princeās music that otherwise would never has existed. Bobby Z., Mark Brown and Matt Fink all made important contributions as members of the Revolution.
Though disbanded by Prince amidst tension following a 1986 tour, theyāve now reunited and are touring. On April 27th, they played the Fillmore in Silver Spring.
Prince was a peerless performer. He was a dynamo like no other, dancing, singing and knocking out blistering guitar solos or wildly intricate piano with equal proficiency. Nobody will ever compare to Prince and the Revolution doesnāt try. In his live performances, Prince would often run through his hits in abbreviated versions or as part of medleys, and sometimes he would go off on long funk jams. He was not the type to choose a set list of 25 songs, play them in full and change it up from night to night to keep the audiences surprised. But the Revolution did exactly that. Their 22-song set covered all of the albums on which they were featured, focusing mainly on the hits but throwing in a couple deep cuts as well. Throughout the night the band paid respect to the music, treating it with reverence and bringing it to electrifying life before a wildly enthusiastic crowd.
Most of the lead vocals were handled by Melvoin and bassist Mark Brown, both of whom did their former boss justice. Vocalist Stokley Williams of Mint Condition guested throughout much of the show, generally performing lead on the more funk-oriented tracks like āKiss,ā āErotic City,ā āUptownā and āLetās Work.ā Williams faced a difficult task. Obviously replacing Prince is impossible, and he didnāt try. He kept the audience singing along, dancing and leading the crowd in arm-waving and cheers, but he didnāt go too far over the top or showboat. He allowed the attention to be on the Revolution but still delivered the dynamic vocals the songs required.
The band opened with their iconic dialogue on the hard-edged funk/rock classic āComputer Blue,ā and delivered scalding takes on ā1999,ā āD.M.S.R.,ā āControversy,ā āLetās Go Crazyā and āDelirious.ā The more pop-oriented songs were all crowd-pleasers, and the whole room sang along with āTake Me With U,ā āPaisley Park,ā āMountainsā and āRaspberry Beret.ā
āWhen Doves Cryā was absolutely blazing from start to finish, Melvoin nailing the opening snarls of guitar and the searing solo midway through, and keyboardist Matt Fink deftly managing those slithery lines of synth near the end. Most of the night was a party, but one somber moment came when the rest of the band left and Wendy Melvoin, after a short and emotional speech about Prince, and Lisa Coleman together performed āSometimes it Snows in April,ā alone on the stage. The room was silent as a seance, apart from the hushed voices singing along. It was a shared moment of connection, of loss and love. Wendy & Lisa recorded the original with Prince in one take, and his absence from that stage was felt to the bones by everyone in that room.
The main set of course closed with āPurple Rainā and it was hard not to feel Princeās presence smiling down as Wendy nailed his famous solo and the crowd waved their arms in the air and sang along with his great epic. Then just like in the film, after the dramatic title song the band walks off stage, only to return to the sound of wild applause. Then, bam!Ā Pure funk amped to the highest wattage with the one-two closing punch of āI Would Die 4 Uā and āBaby Iām a Star,ā which sent the crowd into a frenzy of dancing and the pure love and celebration of Prince and his music.
The Revolution
Fillmore, Silver Spring
April 27, 2017
SET LIST
1. Computer Blue
2. America
3. Mountains
4. Automatic
5. Take Me With U
6. Uptown
7. D.M.S.R.
8. Our Destiny/Roadhouse Garden
9. Raspberry Beret
10. Erotic City
11. Let’s Work
12. 1999
13. Paisley Park
14. Controversy
15. Sometimes it Snows in April
16. Let’s Go Crazy
17. Delirious
18. Kiss
19. When Doves Cry
20. Purple Rain
ENCORE
21. I Would Die 4 U
22. Baby I’m a Star
Music & Concerts
Musical icons and newer stars to rock D.C. this spring
Brandi Carlile, Bad Bunny, Nicki Minaj, and more headed our way
Bands and solo artists of all different genres are visiting D.C. this spring. Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight will team up to perform at the Wolf Trap in June, and girl in red will play at the Anthem in April. Some artists and bands arenāt paying a visit until the summer, like Janet Jackson and Usher, but there are still plenty of acts to see as the weather warms up.
MARCH
Brandi Carlile plays at the Anthem on March 21; Arlo Parks will perform at 9:30 Club on March 23; Girlschool will take the stage at Blackcat on March 28.
APRIL
Nicki Minaj stops in D.C. at Capital One Arena as part of her North American tour on April 1; Bad Bunny plays at Capital One Arena on April 9 as part of his Most Wanted tour; girl in red performs at the Anthem on April 20 and 21; Brandy Clark plays at the Birchmere on April 25; Laufey comes to town to play at the Anthem on April 25 and 26.
MAY
Belle and Sebastian play at the Anthem on May 2; Chastity Belt performs at Blackcat on May 4; Madeleine Peyroux stops at the Birchmere on May 5; The Decemberists play at the Anthem on May 10; the rock band Mannequin Pussy performs at the Atlantis on May 17 and 18; Hozier plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on May 17 as part of the Unreal Unearth tour.
JUNE
Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight will sing soulful melodies at Wolf Trap on June 8; Joe Jackson performs at the Lincoln Theatre on June 10; the Pixies and Modest Mouse are teaming up to play at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 14; Maggie Rogers plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 16 as part of The Donāt Forget Me tour; Brittany Howard headlines the Out & About Festival at Wolf Trap on June 22; Sarah McLachlan plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 27; Alanis Morissette performs at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 29 and 30
Music & Concerts
Grammys: Queer women and their sisters took down the house
Taylor Swift won Album of the Year
When the late, great Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court, her answer was simple: Nine. She stated: “I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” RBG did not attend the Grammyās last night, but her spirit sure did. Women, at long last, dominated, ruled and killed the night.
Cher, in song a decade ago, declared that āthis is a womanās world,ā but there was little evidence that was true, Grammy, and entertainment awards, speaking. In 2018, the Grammys were heavily criticized for lack of female representation across all categories and organizersā response was for women to āstep up.ā
Be careful what you wish for boys.
The biggest star of the 2024 Grammys was the collective power of women. They made history, they claimed legacy and they danced and lip sang to each otherās work. Standing victorious was Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, SZA (the most nominated person of the year), Lainey Wilson, Karol G, boygenius, Kylie Minogue and Victoria MonĆ©t. Oh, yes, and powerhouse Taylor Swift, the superstar from whom Fox News cowers in fear, made history to become the first performer of any gender to win four Best Album of the Year trophies.
In the throng of these powerful women stand a number of both LGBTQ advocates and queer identifying artists. Cyrus has identified as pansexual, SZA has said lesbian rumors āaināt wrong,ā Phoebe Bridgers (winner of four trophies during the night, most of any artist) is lesbian, MonĆ©t is bi and Eilish likes women but doesnāt want to talk about it. Plus, ask any queer person about Swift or Minogue and you are likely to get a love-gush.
Women power was not just owned by the lady award winners. There were the ladies and then there were the Legends. The first Legend to appear was a surprise. Country singer Luke Combs has a cross-generational hit this year with a cover of Tracy Chapmanās “Fast Car.” When originally released, the song was embraced as a lesbian anthem. When performing “Fast Car,” surprise, there was Chapman herself, singing the duet with Combs. The rendition was stunning, sentimental and historic.
Chapman, like many of the nightās female dignitaries, has not been public with her sexuality. Author Alice Walker has spoken of the two of them being lovers, however.
The legend among legends of the night, however, was the one and only Joni Mitchell. Not gay herself, she embodies the concept of an LGBTQ icon, and was accompanied by the very out Brandi Carlile on stage. On her website, Mitchellās statement to the LGBTQ community reads, “The trick is if you listen to that music and you see me, you’re not getting anything out of it. If you listen to that music and you see yourself, it will probably make you cry and you’ll learn something about yourself and now you’re getting something out of it.”
Mitchell performed her longtime classic “Both Sides Now.” The emotion, insight and delivery from the now 80-year old artist, survivor of an aneurism, was nothing short of profound. (To fully appreciate the nuance time can bring, check out the YouTube video of a Swift lookalike Mitchell singing the same song to Mama Cass and Mary Travers in 1969.) In this latest rendition, Mitchell clearly had an impact on Meryl Streep who was sitting in the audience. Talk about the arc of female talent and power.
That arc extended from a todayās lady, Cyrus, to legend Celine Dion as well. Cyrus declared Dion as one of her icons and inspirations early in the evening. Dion appeared, graceful and looking healthy, to present the final, and historic, award of the night at the end of the show.
Legends did not even need to be living to have had an effect on the night. Tributes to Tina Turner and Sinead OāConner by Oprah, Fantasia Barrino-Taylor and Annie Lennox respectively, proved that not even death could stop these women. As Lennox has musically and famously put it, āSisters are doing it for themselves.ā
Even the content of performances by todayās legends-in-the-making spoke to feminine power. Eilish was honored for, and performed “What Was I Made For?,” a haunting and searching song that speaks to the soul of womanhood and redefinition in todayās fight for gender rights and expression, while Dua Lipa laid down the gauntlet for mind blowing performance with her rendition of “Houdini” at the top of the show, Cyrus asserted the power of her anthem “Flowers” and pretty much stole the show.
Cyrus had not performed the song on television before, and only three times publicly. She declared in her intro that she was thrilled over the business numbers the song garnered, but she refused to let them define her. As she sang the hit, she scolded the audience, āyou guys act like you donāt know the words to this song.ā Soon the woman power of the room was singing along with her, from Swift to Oprah.
They can buy themselves flowers from now on. They donāt need anyone else. Cyrus made that point with the mic drop to cap all mic drops, āAnd I just won my first Grammy!ā she declared as she danced off stage.
Even the squirmiest moment of the night still did not diminish the light of women power, and in fact, underscored it. During his acceptance of the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, Jay-Z had a bone to pick with the Grammy voters. He called out the irony that his wife BeyoncĆ© had won more Grammys than any other human, but had never won the Best Album of the Year. Yeah, whatās with that?
But then, it brought additional context ultimately to the fact that the winner of the most Grammys individually ā¦ is a woman. And to the fact that the winner of the most Best Album of the Year awards ā¦ is a woman.
Hopefully this was the night that the Grammys āgot it.ā Women are the epicenter of The Creative Force.
Will the other entertainment awards get it soon as well? We can hope.
Most importantly, in a political world where womenās healthcare is under siege. Will the American voters get it?
A little known band named Little Mix put it this way in their 2019 song āA Womanās World.ā
āIf you can’t see that it’s gotta change
Only want the body but not the brains
If you really think that’s the way it works
You ain’t lived in a woman’s world
Just look at how far that we’ve got
And don’t think that we’ll ever stopā¦ā
From Grammyās mouth to the worldās ear.
Music & Concerts
Janet Jackson returning to D.C, Baltimore
‘Together Again Tour’ comes to Capital One Arena, CFG Bank Arena
Pop icon Janet Jackson announced this week an extension of her 2023 āTogether Again Tour.ā A new leg of the tour will bring Jackson back to the area for two shows, one at D.C.ās Capital One Arena on Friday, July 12 and another at Baltimoreās CFG Bank Arena on Saturday, July 13.
Tickets are on sale now via TicketMaster. LiveNation announced the 2023 leg of the tour consisted of 36 shows, each of which was sold out. The 2024 leg has 35 stops planned so far; R&B star Nelly will open for Jackson on the new leg.
Jackson made the tour announcement Tuesday on social media: āHey u guys! By popular demand, weāre bringing the Together Again Tour back to North America this summer with special guest Nelly! Itāll be so much fun!ā
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