Review: Janelle Monae - 7/23

This was our third free show in a row, and it was by far the best. It pouring, but we had our ponchos and braved the rain at Bushnell Park because Janelle Monae is definitely worth it.

Monae came out as energetic as usual and played for what felt like an hour even though it was much longer. Her sets fly by because they're so fun and get everyone dancing. This was the perfect time to see her, too, with just a full album and an EP out. So we knew a lot of the songs. Also, I think she's getting bigger having played both the BET Awards and the ESPYs this year, so seeing her for free now is pretty fantastic. She performed an extended version of "Tightrope" complete with lots of runs and a fake ending and came out for an encore with "Many Moons." (I totally called that one since she didn't play it during the regular set.)

It was really cool seeing such a diverse crowd - with both 20-somethings from all over and area residents setting up their lawn chairs and giant umbrellas. Even the Hartford mayor came out and said this was what Hartford was all about. It was the city's 375th anniversary, and this free show was to celebrate it. It was presented by the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Hartford Party Starters Union. (Thanks, Hartford Party Starters Union, for starting so many parties!) Bushnell Park was the perfect location for a Hartford celebration because you could see a lot of the city, and the Capitol was beautiful lit up in the night.


Other performers included Cubic Zirconia, who were really cool with their dance music and spoken-word lyrics. DJ Rizzla played between some sets. Tobacco had a pretty fun DJ set. Maluca was OK with their singing and rapping over sampled music, and Holy Ghost was a really cool precursor to Janelle Monae.

Free Janelle Monae show in Hartford? Yes, please!

You heard right. Janelle Monae is headlining Hartford's Still Wavy 375 show at Bushnell Park on July 23.

Here are the details:

"Still Wavy 375 is a free concert in Bushnell Park presented by the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Hartford Party Starters Union in honor of Hartford's 375th anniversary," according to the Still Wavy 375 website.

The concert goes down at 5 p.m. on July 23 at Bushnell Park in Hartford and features Janelle Monae, Holy Ghost, Tobacco, Maluca, Cubic Zirconia and DJ Rizzla.

According to the Facebook event, the concert is from 5 to 11 p.m., and there will be vendors along Trinity Street with Black Bear Saloon vending beers in the beer garden.

Sounds like a pretty sweet time!

For more information on the show or the artists playing, go to the Still Wavy 375 website: http://stillwavy375.com/
While you're there, listen to some of the songs listed on the right. I especially enjoyed the Cubic Zirconia song at the end. Played it during work yesterday.

I logged onto Twitter on Tuesday and saw CTIndie tweeted a blog post on a 375th anniversary concert, and when I looked into it, it was better than I could even imagine, and I'm really glad I found out about it. Janelle Monae is really fun live. Saw her open for Of Montreal at Toad's two years ago, and it was awesome. She's so full of energy, and she's definitely blowing up now that the ArchAndroid's out and she's performing everywhere. So this free show is an extra good deal.

4/19 - Of Montreal and Janelle Monae!

This show was so fun. As soon as Janelle Monae took the stage to open for Of Montreal, Toad's Place was just loaded with energy. In a recent Spin feature on her, she said that she's been blessed to have people be too afraid of asking her how she'll fit into the mainstream. We're blessed too. I like that she's different with her front-pushed hair and jockey outfits. Her music was dancey with a touch of Outkast and a whole lot of herself shining through. At one point in the show, she painted a picture on stage and handed it to the crowd.

As Of Montreal started their first song, I almost thought that Janelle outdid them. However, as they moved on with their set, they were incredible. Totally freaking out the bouncers. With their guys in stretchy pink costumes to hobbits to a tiger doing unspeakable things to someone else in a stretchy black costume, it was a crazy party on stage, and that party feel really spread to the crowd. Especially when they performed some of their more popular numbers like "A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger" or "Gronlandic Edit," which are both very danceable with recognizable and repeating background beats, they got the crowd going. I was surprised they didn't play "Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse" for obvious reasons of what might have been going on in the audience, but I was very happy with how much they played off Hissing Fauna as well as Skeletal Lamping. This was probably one of my top 5 concerts, and my boyfriend and I danced more than we ever danced before.