it's already a week later, and i'm still on a high from the london & amsterdam shows. i would imagine my traveling companion deshigrrrl is, as well.

we were @ the jazz cafe in london for friday night's (april 8) show. incredible. the place was packed with a sold-out crowd. shortly after 9 pm, with no opening act (which i've come to really appreciate), meshell and smj--chris dave on drums, michael cain on piano/keys, ron blake on tenor & baritone sax, dahu mumagi on soprano & tenor sax, and dj jahi sundance--came onstage and started in on a mix of songs from dance of the infidel and others i hadn't heard before. true to form, meshell has once again assembled a group of exceptional musicians, each a true artist in his own right. chris dave busted a drum during one of the first few songs...it was the first time i'd seen him, and he was fantastic. ron blake on sax was so much fun to watch...the look on his face following his off-the-hook solos was priceless. and of course, meshell. she was smiling and laughing on stage in a way i'd not seen during the 10 previous performances i'd witnessed over the last 10+ years....so great to see her having fun (or at least appearing to). i hadn't seen her live in a couple of years, and i think she just gets better and better on bass all the time. i was blown away.

but alas....we had no idea what would be in store for us in amsterdam the following night. first, the paradiso is (imho) a fabulous venue. large dance floor in front of a raised stage, 2 additional floors of balcony space, beautifully back-lit stained-glass windows behind the stage. the (again) sold-out crowd was large and very engaged, even more so than the previous night's crowd in london had been.

smj came onstage shortly after 9, again playing a mix of songs from the new album and songs i either hadn't heard before, or had only just heard in london. perhaps it was the fact that it was the last show on this leg of the tour (tho smj is headed back to europe, including the netherlands, later this spring). perhaps it was the ability--on the part of the band and/or the crowd--to smoke freely. perhaps the planets were aligned just right. but something was different in amsterdam. the show was magical. mystical. absolutely phenomenal. each member of the band seemed to have taken his/her musicianship to a different level...transcending the confines of this earth. i didn't want it to end, ever.

meshell was, again, smiling and laughing onstage...she appears to revel in no longer being the "frontman," the star. and on the bass?? she was in a totalzone, and she took me right along with her. she played a particular bass line in one song (which is not on dance of the infidel) that i still have in my head, crystal clear, a week later (and i'm no musician, so this is not something i do on the regular).

this was my first trip abroad, and it had been planned (by deshigrrrl and me) around these 2 shows. there were times when i threw back my head and laughed out loud...i was just so happy to be there, and almost incredulous that i was. then, there were other times when the music nearly brought me to tears. this range of emotion wasn't unfamiliar...meshell's music has had that effect on me since i first heard it in '93. but the atmosphere(s) added another dimension to the shows, and to the trip, that i wouldn't trade for anything. this was an experience that i will hold in my head and in my heart, forever.

Wow GT, I wish I was with u guys. That was just beautiful...
Thank u for sharing.
Music is life. Isn’t it?

aaah... yes... london and amsterdam. amsterdamn is my heart. i will be visiting that city many more times in the future no doubt.
lisa's notes are dead on. the london show was excellent, it being the first time i saw meshell with smj live. it was somewhat jaded by the fact that we were perched on a high traffic stairwell that made for a very distracting view of the show. but the music was definitely tight. and yeah... chris dave busted his drum. that was pretty funny! that dude can play the shit out of some drums though, so i can't say i'm so surprised!

but the amsterdam show... WOWWWWWWWWW... the amsterdam show left me with a fat ass grin on my face. every single member of that audience (well, ok, the ones i could see) was in a fucking trance the whole time. i think, unconsciously, i had my hand on my heart for the majority of the show just because i was feeling the music so deeply that i just didn't know what to do with myself. i don't think i can even articulate how fantastic the amsterdam show was. they came back for 2 encores, and it almost seemed like they might do another, but then didn't. the entire band was seen laughing and smiling and just having a blast. i just knew that they knew that they had put on one helluva show for us. they knew that the music they improvised that night was magic. no wait, genius. they knew because the looks on their faces said it all: "damn... did we just play that shit? hell yeah... we sure did!"
wow. like lisa, i will never forget that trip. london in my opinion is really overrated and way too fucking expensive. fuck london. amsterdam is where it's at. amsterdam is my heart. did i already say that? whatever. if the weather weren't so atrocious, i'd seriously consider living there. and then to have the experience topped off by THE best fucking live music presentation i've witnessed in my entire life (and i've been to damn near 100 concerts methinks) was icing on the cake. and i love me some cake.
but enough about me.
everytime i think i've seen one of the best meshell shows ever, she busts out with a better one. i mean, just being at that show made the ENTIRE trip so worthwhile, even though my wallet wants to argue against that. fuck the wallet. that show made me happy. have you ever been to a show that actually made you happy? i have.
damn. thank you meshell/smj. i'll never, ever forget that paradiso show. ever.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: deshigrrrl,

....

damn...you two have just made my day...

i'm feelin like i was there with ya (and wish i was)...

thanks much for sharing the great details...

sounds like yet another astonishing experience given to us by our girl, her gift and her crew...

aint it great to be a Meshell fan?...

thank you for sharing this

now i have only one question... are the two of you going to catch the montreal show? hehe