Janelle Monae Minneapolis 10/22 at the Skyway Theatre : brief thoughts

This is what I wrote last night after I got home. My right ear is still ringing/shot and I had my earplugs in the entire time I was there. The setlist was more or less the same as every other show Janelle and her band have done on her current tour.

Suite IV Electric Overture 
Givin Em What They Love 
Dance Apocalyptic 
Sincerely, Jane. 
Q.U.E.E.N. 
Electric Lady 
Victory 
Ghetto Woman 
I Want You Back 
(Jackson 5 cover)
Cold War 
Tightrope  (w/ extended jam)

Encore:
PrimeTime 
Let’s Go Crazy 
(Prince & The Revolution cover)
Come Alive (The War of the Roses) (w/ extended jam playing to the crowd, crowd surfing, and having the crowd kneel for 10 or more minutes)

Encore 2:

What an Experience 

whoever did the sound tonight (Jake Rudh?) at the Janelle Monae show at The Skyway Theatre probably should get their hearing checked. Most of the show sounded like a huge wall-of-sound from where I was. Vocals-clipping, guitars-clipping, drums-clipping frequently.

Also, maybe even more than that, whoever estimated the capacity at The Skyway Theatre for this show, and considered it to be at standing room only, and also factored in many people needing to dance moving-into others personal space. They really didn't consider the frequent bumping, elbowing, clamoring for space and moving within the crowd. 

In other words, it was claustrophobia 101, and more or less feeling like you're trapped in a can of sardines.

Someone also was lighting up, and I'm pretty sure The Barfly bldg has a no smoking policy.

Prince was there, but he did not join Janelle on stage.

Looking at my concert calendar this fall, the Janelle show was maybe the most significant, and by far it seems like it was the worst (although nearly every other show I have seen the last 2 months has been good if not outstanding). And that even isn't much to do with Janelle and her band's performance, but more so likely due to the venue and the crowd.

I had only been to The Barfly a few times, in The Loft part, which I found to be okay, not amazing, but not really repulsive. The Skyway Theatre seemed worse. Although in fairness, it is new, and perhaps like Mill City Nights, perhaps some improvements in the security, sound, and not overselling a venue for maximizing the ticket sales will change my feeling about that place. But for now, it definitely isn't my favorite place to see a concert in town.

Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady (2013)

9/3/13 2:00PM

FULL ALBUM STREAM BELOW (or at the link)

vh1 link 

Get More: Janelle Monae,

The Guardian Stream (UK and others?)

8/19/13 9:03PM

3rd/New single "Primetime (ft Miguel)." Ballad. Not bad, but also not something I imagine will stand out on this record.


8/13/13 4:41PM

Wow, a double fucking album! I was a little wary about this record, and am still slightly compared to the ArchAndroid, but man, the way it looks both in concept/ambition and potential storytelling again, I'm now a little more optimistic about it.



link

Disc 1:


1. Suite IV Electric Overture

2. Givin Em What They Love (ft. Prince)

3. Q.U.E.E.N. (ft. Erykah Badu)

4. Electric Lady (ft. Solange)

5. Good Morning Midnight (Interlude)

6. PrimeTime (ft. Miguel)

7. We Were Rock & Roll

8. The Chrome Shoppe (Interlude)

9. Dance Apocalyptic

10. Look Into My Eyes

Disc 2:


11. Suite V Electric Overture

12. It's Code

13. Ghetto Woman

14. Our Favorite Fugitive (Interlude)

15. Victory

16. Can't Live Without Your Love

17. Sally Ride

18. Dorothy Dandridge Eyes (ft. Esperanza Spalding)

19. What An Experience

Bonus Tracks:

21. Q.U.E.E.N. (ft. Erykah Badu) [Wondamix]
22. Electric Lady (ft. Big Boi and Cee Lo Green) [Dungeon-Wondamix]
23. HYTB
24. I Want You Back

According to NME, the Miguel track, "Prime Time," will feature a sample of the indie-rock godfathers, The Pixie's, classic "Where Is My Mind?" 

We have a feeling this album is gunna push a lot of boundaries and bend a lot of genres. After all, this is the electric lady who adores talking about cyborgs almost as much as (and maybe more than) music!

Some background about the COVER ART

8/4/13 5:51PM-

This is apparently the cover art. I also noticed on Wikipedia, she is covering "I Want You Back" from the Jackson 5 as an exclusive bonus track with the Target store release.


7/3/13 2:13PM
New official video for "Dance Apocalyptic."

iTunes Preorder 

6/28/13 7:37PM
no embed of course. I never get why it isn't embed-able since it'll probably be ripped onto Youtube within a few hours anyway.

Cool, catchy tune anyway. Can't wait to hear the whole thing in the coming months.

Stream "Dance Apocalyptic"

edit: the official video teaser below confirms the video for this song will be released on Tuesday July 2nd.

6/27/13 10:48PM

Instragram Video announcing this album is coming on September 10th, 2013

embed? I can't find it.

I can share what I have seen on Wikipedia

Prince and Miguel will be among the other guests, besides Erykah Badu on the 1st single.

Some song titles mentioned below:
-Q.U.E.E.N. (feat. Erykah Badu)
-Dorothy Dandridge Eyes
-Dance Apocalyptic
-Victory
-Primetime (feat. Miguel?)

Monáe's first single from The Electric Lady, "Q.U.E.E.N.", which features Erykah Badu, premiered on SoundCloud and made available for download purchase at the Itunes Store on April 23, 2013."Q.U.E.E.N" garnered 31,000 digital sales according to Nielsen Soundscan with the accompanying music video gaining four million Youtube views within its first week of release. Thematically, 'Electric Lady' will continue the utopian cyborg concepts of its predecessors, while presenting itself in more plainspoken, personal territory in addition to experimenting with genres beyond conventional Funk and Soul such as Jazz ("Dorothy Dandridge Eyes"), Pop-Punk ("Dance Apocalyptic"), Gospel ("Victory") and woozy, sensual vocal ballads ("Primetime", slated to be a duet with Miguel). The album will so far feature confirmed guest appearances by Prince and the aforementioned Miguel with production from previous collaborator Deep Cotton (a psychedelic punk act) and Roman GianArthur (a soul music composer), and is targeted for a September release date

11/5/12 1:45AM


In June 2012, Monáe performed two new songs, "Electric Lady" and "Dorothy Dandridge Eyes" — from her upcoming sophomore studio album, The Electric Lady — at Toronto's Jazz Festival.^[24][25] In July 2012, for the second year in a row, she appeared at the renowned North Sea Jazz Festival in Europe as well as in the 46th edition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on the 14th.

Take the above source for what it's worth, being Wikipedia. Here's a couple of videos of the 2 songs mentioned about the album, live.

Certainly this album The Electric Lady, whenever it does come out (hopefully in 2013) is pretty high on my anticipation list. I doubt, but what if the name had some connection to either Jimi Hendrix or The Electric Ladyland studios.

Also a cool note I discovered over the weekend about Janelle in this link about Hidden songs the 8th track "Neon Gumbo" from The Archandroid (Suite II and III), when played backwards, sounds like a sequel to "Many Moons," from her debut EP Metropolis Suite I . "Many Moons" by the way, I have come to totally love, and find it as good if not better than anything off The Archandroid. There's even a cool short film/video of it.

Janelle Monáe The Electric Lady 2013 Fall Tour (Mpls confirmed!)

8/19/13 10:00PM
Many dates added (and more to come). Interesting to see both Chicago and Seattle of all places to have 2 shows, and different venues.

edit: the November 26th show is in ATLANTA, GA (not Seattle, and Seattle it appears only does have the 1 show on Wednesday October 30th).

8/15/13 5:47PM

Oct 13 (SUN)
The Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA

Oct 14 (MON)
Lincoln Theatre Washington DC

Oct  16 (WED)
House of Blues Boston Boston, MA
07:00 PM

Oct 18 (FRI)
Olympia Theatre Montreal, QC

Oct 19 (SAT)
Kool Haus Toronto, ON

Oct 21 (MON)
Vic Theatre Chicago, IL

Oct 22 (TUE)
The Skyway Theatre Minneapolis, MN
6:00PM

Oct 24 (THU)
Gothic Theatre Englewood, CO

Oct 25 (FRI)
In The Venue Salt Lake City, UT

Oct 26 and 27 (SAT and SUN)
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
Life Is Beautiful Festival - 2 Day General Admission

Oct 29 (TUE)
Roseland Theater Portland, OR

Oct 30 (WED)
Showbox SoDo Seattle, WA

Nov 1 (FRI)
Warfield Theatre San Francisco, CA

Nov 2 (SAT)
Club Nokia at L.A. Live Los Angeles, CA

Nov  5 (TUE)
House of Blues Anaheim Anaheim, CA
07:00 PM

Nov 6 (WED)
House of Blues San Diego San Diego, CA
07:00 PM

Nov 7 (WED)
Kool Haus Phoenix, AZ

Nov 9 (FRI)
The Crescent Ballroom Chicago, IL

Nov 12 (MON)
House of Blues Dallas, TX

Nov  13 (WED)
House of Blues Houston Houston, TX
07:00 PM

Nov  15 (FRI)
Uptown Theater Kansas City, MO
07:00 PM

Nov 17 (SUN)
Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN

Nov 19 (TUE)
The Ritz  Raleigh, NC

Nov 20 (WED)
The Fillmore Charlotte Charlotte, NC

Nov 22 (FRI)
Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL

Nov 23 (SAT)
Fillmore Miami Beach @ The Jackie Gleason Theatre Miami, FL

Nov 26 (TUE)
The Tabernacle Atlanta, GA

89.3's post
which of course doesn't show the standard The Electric Lady cover art, but the Target alternate cover , lol. Then again, that's not new, I seem to recall their review of the new Local Natives album had the alternate cover art as well, lol.

But according to that, tickets to the GENERAL PUBLIC go on sale on Friday August 23rd at 10AM, PER TICKETMASTER: LINK HERE

However, The Presale should be available, and hopefully like many others, I won't have to deal with any Scalpers, thank gawd.

I'll pass along more of the dates if/when I get the chance. Minneapolis on 10/22 at the Skyway Theatre which I'm not crazy about, although in fairness, I've never actually seen a concert there (but "The Loft" I have, and I would not imagine seeing Janelle at that particular part of the bldg). I guess it was recently renovated too. And it is on a Tuesday night at least.

Rocktober now includes this, BTBAM (11th) and Radical Face (16th).

Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. (FT. Erykah Badu) SINGLE Rel 4/22/13

5/2/13 9:30AM

damn.


4/22/13 7:00PM


STREAM IT NOW

verrry nice! the outro especially with the strings and rapping totally works!

"Categorize Me, I defy every label"

"And while you selling dope we gone keep selling hope! We rising up now you gotta deal you gotta cope!"

"Will you be electric sheep? Electric ladies will you sleep Or will you preach?"

4/15/13 11:55AM


6:54 PM next Monday April 22nd


Should be nice to hear next Monday evening. Here's recent entries about Janelle:

Covering Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" on Jimmy Fallon
Electric Lady 1st Entry

Janelle Monáe: Covering Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing" on Fallon

 Wow, I had no idea she was appearing, let alone covering a Hendrix tune. Damn, looking forward to checking this out later today. Now if we could only get some news regarding The Electric Lady.