Aside from the fist fight, the Tracy Chapman concert was awesome! I bet that sentence hasn't been said many times.
So we went to see the amazingly talented folk pioneer Tracy Chapman perform at the Calvin Theater on Saturday. Tracy was amazing. She played a set littered with classic favorites like "Fast Car," "The Promise," " Smoke and Ashes," "Baby Can I Hold You Tonight," and "Give Me One Reason." In addition, she also played a number of new tracks including "Sing For You" and "Our Bright Future." She also played stirring covers of Prince's "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" and Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up."
The night began with a great opening set from soulful indie newcomer Gaby Moreno. A native of Guatemala, she sings from the heart with the emotion of a young Sinead O'Connor, but with the funk of artists like Tracy Chapman herself.
Following Moreno, a long wait for Tracy Chapman to take the stage gave the crowd an anxious/excited energy. Soon Chapman soothed any tension with a crooning of "Sing For You."
While she continued to play the classics, the energy increased with each song. Finally, just as the end of the regular set came to a close, and Tracy and her band left the stage, two young girls broke out into a fist fight right next to me, endangering nearby handicapped guests. I was then forced to restrain one of the young girls, while security figured out how to handle the obviously intoxicated girls.
This incident gave me many thoughts not limited to:
So we went to see the amazingly talented folk pioneer Tracy Chapman perform at the Calvin Theater on Saturday. Tracy was amazing. She played a set littered with classic favorites like "Fast Car," "The Promise," " Smoke and Ashes," "Baby Can I Hold You Tonight," and "Give Me One Reason." In addition, she also played a number of new tracks including "Sing For You" and "Our Bright Future." She also played stirring covers of Prince's "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" and Bob Marley's "Get Up Stand Up."
The night began with a great opening set from soulful indie newcomer Gaby Moreno. A native of Guatemala, she sings from the heart with the emotion of a young Sinead O'Connor, but with the funk of artists like Tracy Chapman herself.
Following Moreno, a long wait for Tracy Chapman to take the stage gave the crowd an anxious/excited energy. Soon Chapman soothed any tension with a crooning of "Sing For You."
While she continued to play the classics, the energy increased with each song. Finally, just as the end of the regular set came to a close, and Tracy and her band left the stage, two young girls broke out into a fist fight right next to me, endangering nearby handicapped guests. I was then forced to restrain one of the young girls, while security figured out how to handle the obviously intoxicated girls.
This incident gave me many thoughts not limited to:
- Who gets into a fight at a Tracy Chapman concert?
- What has our World come to when handicapped people cannot feel safe at a folk concert?
- What precautions could the event staff have taken to prevent this type of escalation.
It seemed just as we got the fight under control, Tracey and band took the stage for an encore of Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up." It seemed awkwardly inappropriate for the moment. However, the rendition was really special.
All and all the night turned out to be interesting, exciting, and pretty awesome. If you ever get the chance to see Tracy live, she is not to be missed. And her crowds are almost as engaging as her great songs.
Check her out at one of her next US Tour dates here.
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