Many musicians and bands can give an amazing performance, but rare are the times a performance has the ability to move the audience, to give something so special, so extraordinary, so remarkable, that the night feels magical and you leave the concert feeling changed, inspired and blown away by the night. Janelle Monáe delivered that kind of a performance at a sold-out Skyway Theatre in Minneapolis.
The stage was decked out in all white, with sleek white keyboards, white curtains and a black-and-white mic stand (swirled like a candy cane) that held a vintage microphone. Stage hands dressed in white suits meticulously arranged the stage for at least a half hour before the set started. And then, all of a sudden, it began, amazingly so, with Monáe being wheeled out in a straightjacket by a performer wearing a white lab coat. Surely, this performance had every intention of being extraordinary.
Monáe began with “Givin’ ‘Em What They Love,” the first of many moments throughout the night where the crowd expected to find Prince taking the stage with Monáe. Prince was nowhere to be found, but his appearance was felt as Monáe gave her all to the song, her performance rivaling those of Prince at nearby First Avenue. Monáe wasted no time in the night, and played her hit single “Dance Apocalyptic” next, which got everyone on the floor dancing, the ground literally shaking.
As expected, Monáe stuck mainly to material from new album The Electric Lady, performing “Q.U.E.E.N.” and the title track back-to-back as they appear on the album. Later, Monáe covered Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back” with perfection. Tracks from The ArchAndriod were also revisited by the singer, most notably “Cold War” and Monae’s first hit, “Tightrope.”
When the band returned for an encore after their impeccable set, the Prince vibe returned as Monáe unleashed her current single “Prime Time” to purple lights accompanied by purple confetti blasted into the crowd. Monáe kept the Prince vibe going with her cover of “Let’s Go Crazy,” the second point of the night where everyone at the show was sure that the legendary singer would soon appear on stage in a surprise moment. After the concert, it was said that Prince was actually at the show, watching as a fan in a special tent set up in the former movie theater’s balcony seating section.
An extended version of “Come Alive (The War of the Roses)” closed the first encore, where the singer demanded crowd participation, instructing them to get low. Monáe didn’t end the song until nearly everyone on the ground level crouched down, and then promptly entered into the middle of the crowd herself. A second encore first gave thanks to the audience and was followed with a rendition of The Electric Lady’s final track, the 80’s pop-inspired “What An Experience,” the perfect way to sum up what everyone in the room, including Prince, was feeling.
Catch Janelle Monáe on tour:
10/24/13 Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
10/25/13 Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
10/29/13 Portland, OR @Roseland Theater
10/30/13 Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo
11/1/13 San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre
11/2/13 Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia
11/5/13 Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
11/6/13 San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
11/7/13 Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom
11/9/13 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
11/12/13 Austin, TX @ The Moody Theater
11/13/13 Houston, TX @ House of Blues
11/15/13 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theater
11/17/13 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
11/19/13 Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
11/20/13 Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
11/22/13 Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
11/23/13 Miami Beach, FL @ The Jackie Gleason Theatre
11/26/13 Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle