Ghostface Killah with Adrian Younge

Last week’s Wu-Tang post was inspired by a show I’d seen the week before.  At Mississippi Studios here in Portland, Ghostface Killah joined Adrian Younge and his band Venice Dawn to kick off the Soul’d Out music festival.  The two acts recently collaborated on an ambitious concept album, Twelve Reasons to Die, that NPR just reviewed. 

I didn’t really know what to expect from the show.  The new album is only like 40 minutes long so I figured the band would probably just get an extended workout to lengthen the set.  Maybe they’d dig into some deeper cuts from Ghostface’s 20-years-and-counting career.  Thankfully, that’s basically what happened.  I wasn’t able to get in to the first show of the night but, due to some late-game heroics from the folks at MS Studios, I got into the second show (added after initial demand for the one show eclipsed expectations).  Part of me was worried that Ghost and gang wouldn’t have much gas in the tank for the second show (it started past midnight) but, once they got going, it was all good.  A few notes:

-It’d been a while since I’d been to a hip-hop show.  There were a lot of hands in the air, waving around like their owners just didn’t care.  There was a lot of call-and-response stuff, e.g. “say ho-oh,” and “say hell yeah.”  I was up front at first, behind a flimsy barrier that created some space between the stage and the crowd.  When Ghost hit the stage, he promptly told security to “get this muh-f—kin thing outta here, man,”  which elicited cheers and a surge forward.  Up close, I couldn’t really hear well – all the rapping sounded like barking and I had trouble picking out words.  So after a couple songs, I moved backward and was able to hear a lot better. 

-Younge’s band Venice Dawn was tight.  He had two guitarists (one who also busted out a flute here and there) who both had some serious effect-pedal-setups.  One guy would shred furiously while another would stomp a pedal and let these crisp, rippling chords echo out.  Or one guy would work the wah pedal while the other played a secret-agent-style riff.  It was all very Ennio-Morricone-Mayfield-Superfly, if that makes sense.

-I found the drummer very distracting.  He was certainly talented, and he played with real power, but he was showboating way too much for my tastes.  Spinning, twirling and flipping sticks flamboyantly, he just got on my nerves.  Seriously, that hot dog needed some mustard.  If you’ve ever seen this, you get the idea.

-Younge himself was definitely the bandleader.  In addition to really setting the mood with his atmospheric organ work, he took turns on electric piano and bass while taking breaks to engage the audience.  He introduced the story that frames the album, which I won’t get into here, and stepped up front periodically to narrate and further spin the tale.

-Understandably, Ghostface was the main attraction.  Before he even came out, people were chanting his name and various Wu-Tang things.  His voice was a little hoarse but he was still clearly articulating tongue-twisting rhymes and nimbly riding the beat.  The new material seemed to make him a little uncomfortable; it required him to play a role and to kind of do some acting (which is arguably what most gangsta rappers do anyway).  At one point, he was supposed to be ‘reading’ a letter from a female character whose part was played by a backup singer – she was offstage actually reading the letter so that Ghost ‘read’ it in her voice.  It was almost as awkward and clumsy as that last sentence.  At another point, the lights were completely cut and Ghost was surrounded by hooded, ghoulishly-made-up kids holding candles while reciting some lines.  It was kinda cheesy and even though he was a good sport, Ghostface didn’t really seem that into it.  Maybe he was just tired, jet-lagged.

Ghost and Younge (from a phone-camera).

-Highlight: “Mighty Healthy” from 2000’s Supreme Clientele has been one of my favorites for a long time.  The song’s built on a sample from a poppy funk-soul band from the ‘70s called The Sylvers (here they are on Soul Train), and Younge’s crack band handled it with ease.  So hearing it live, shouting along to the same lyrics I used to recite alone in my room, was pretty tight.