Review: Lupe Fiasco @ Loyola (10/11/08)

The Lupe Fiasco concert at Loyola College was last night.

It was my first hip-hop concert, and I didn't know exactly what to expect. Like a lot of hip-hop performers, Lupe has guest vocalists and samples in his songs, and I wasn't sure how that was going to be replicated on stage. I also didn't much know what the crowd was going to be like. I stupidly put my plans to go on facebook, so many of my students, current and former, knew I was going, so much so that I got a call in the afternoon asking if I needed extra seats. I went, hoping I wouldn't run into any of them. Can you imagine if I got caught dancing? Ugh.

I ended up seeing a few students, but don't think I was seen, which is good. But, really, I barely thought about it. See, Lupe pretty much had me in the palm of his hand throughout the night. The kid slayed me. What a performer. Jumping and dancing all around the stage, pouring 110% into every song, often shouting his lyrics - it was transcendent.

Songs that I think are kind of silly on CD - like "Go Go Gadget Flow" - took on a new life onstage; that song turned into an epic ode to the midwest and to, um, flow. My favorite song of his, "Daydreamin'", was introduced with a pithy political speech punctuated by the repeated call for the audience, and the world, to "Wake... the fuck... up" and the performance thereafter was extremely moving, with the lyrics shouted through the roar of Jill Scott's pre-recorded vocals and the lead electric guitarist, who had a pretty damn good voice himself. Other highlights included "Hip Hop Saved My Life," which sent shivers up my spine, and his hit "Superstar," which he started with with a seemingly improvised repeated beat and mantra "I love you. Because you are who you say you are" that went on for about two minutes before the band got into the hook.

And, wow, what a band. I sort of expected just a DJ and maybe a couple of instruments, but the band was 8-strong (2 sets of keyboards, a terrific drummer, an electic guitarist, a bassist, a turntablist/DJ, a backup rapper, and Lupe) and, well, really rocked. They all had so much energy, and Lupe himself was one of the best performers I've ever seen. He's right up there with Melissa Ferrick and Bruce Springsteen in stage energy, guiding and leading the audience (which, by the way, was lame) into his world of amazing lyricism and musicianship.

Now, to the audience: much pastier than I thought it would be, and full of Loyola college students who spent a lot of time talking on their cell phones on the floor. Apparently it was the fastest sellout in the history of Loyola concerts, but many apparently didn't know Lupe's music. It would be nice to see him in a venue where everyone loves his music like I do, or like a good portion of the crowd did, without being distracted by distracted college kids.

Most disappointing was the lack of an encore. The band stopped playing, and the crowd starting leaving. There were a few light attempts at chanting "Lupe! Lupe!", but the venue turned on the lights, and the show was done. It was a bummer, because if any show deserved and longed for an encore, it was this one. This is a kid with two albums, and I could list about five songs I didn't hear that I really wanted to (most notably "The Cool," "He Say, She Say," and "Little Weapon."

Still, damn, what a show. I'll remember this one forever. Let's hope he decides to keep performing after his long-announced "3 albums and I'm done" (which he repeated last night) goal.

Here's a little review of the show from a blog that Lupe himself talked about onstage.

And here's a video of Lupe performing "Superstar" a few nights before last night. I'm not sure if we'll get videos from this show; they were pretty strict on recording equipment: