Anita Baker gives less than her best
By Jim
Monday, December 4th, 2006 at 2:47 am in All Reviews.
Anita Baker is good at making fans wait.
The “quiet storm” music queen made them wait 10 years between studio albums, from 1994’s “Rhythm of Love” to 2004’s “My Everything.” She also made music lovers wait seven years between tours. The singer even made local fans wait to see her in concert this year, having canceled a show back in June at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord due to throat problems.
On Sunday night, the waiting looked to be finally over as Baker was scheduled to appear at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. The 48-year-old Ohio native made good on this commitment, but not before _ you guessed it! _ she made fans wait yet again.
The alto vocalist took the stage roughly 90 minutes after the advertised 7:30 p.m. start time. Despite the efforts of a local comedian, who helped kill some of the time, crowd members grew mighty restless as the clock ticked toward 9 p.m. A few fans actually left the building, with some reportedly asking for their money back.
On a couple of occasions, the fans began chanting, “Start the show!”
No explanation was given for Baker’s tardiness. It might have been sound system issues at the venue or problems with the star’s voice. Either one seemed equally plausible, given that the early portion of the show suffered from both an awful mix and a substandard vocal performance from Baker.
In all, it was a far cry from the nearly flawless concert that the singer delivered at the same venue in early April 2003. It would, however, grow more enjoyable as the night progressed.
One of the things that the show had going for it was how it looked. The stage was suitably decked out for the holidays, with white Christmas trees, snowmen, reindeers and Santa’s sled, and the nine-piece band was dressed up in jazzy tuxedos and slick outfits. Baker looked terrific as she entered the stage wearing a glorious black party dress that glittered under the spotlights.
The first part of the show was pretty bad. Baker kicked things off with the traditional opener, “Mystery” from 1986’s quintuple-platinum “Rapture,” and the sound mix was so far tilted toward the musicians that Baker had a hard time being heard. When her vocals rose to the top, they were often undecipherable as the singer slurred her words.
Unfortunately, those same problems would dog the next number, the great “Rapture” track “Sweet Love.” She would compensate for those issues, somewhat successfully, by scatting through portions of her early selections. She also encouraged the crowd to sing on such numbers as the “Rapture” tune “No One in the World.”
In general, the crowd was pretty subdued throughout the concert. Fans basically ignored Baker emphatic requests for them to show more energy as she continued to mine “Rapture” for the likes of “Same Ole Love.”
The problem was that Baker hadn’t really given the crowd much to get excited about through the first half-dozen selections.
The vocalist began to right the ship about halfway into the approximately 100-minute show. The gremlins that plagued the sound system also vacated the building (although the mix remained too loud) and Baker was able to properly showcase her husky, fireside alto on “Caught Up in the Rapture.”
The show’s finest moment came when Baker unwrapped two tunes from her fine holiday outing, 2005’s “Christmas Fantasy.” Playful, personable and joyous throughout the gig, the vocalist really was able to charm the crowd as she crooned to a snowman the jazzy, New Orleans-inspired “Frosty’s Rag” and then took a seat on Santa’s lap for “Christmas Fantasy.”
From that point onward, Baker was dealing only aces as she dove into 1988’s triple-platinum “Giving You the Best That I Got” for a sweet take on “Just Because” and a soft reading of that album’s title track.
Baker sounded so strong by the end of the show, closing out the main set with a lush rendition of the “Rapture” number “You Bring Me Joy” and including a great version of the early hit “Angel” in the encore, that she was almost able to make up for all that transpired earlier.
Almost.
Despite the fine finish, this concert turned out to be one that really wasn’t worth the wait.
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December 4th, 2006 at 10:37 am
100% in agreement with your review. My partner and I left at 9:30pm and I am going to ask for a refund. The unexplained lateness, the gibberish for lyrics during the first 2 songs, the missing of song cues, her poor imitation of Stevie Nicks twirling around the stage, it was a train wreck. She seemed disconnected to her audience. It would have only been proper to have a polite apology for the late late start, instead it was as if she was too consumed with her own concerns than to be thankful to her audience. Something to stage right kept annoying her and we all witnessed her shooing something away in the wings. We spent $90.00 a ticket and that is no a small amount of money.
In comparison, I saw Anita Baker at the Wiltern in 1986 when Rapture was a major success and she was sweet, powerful and humbled by her fans adoration, last night I saw a Diva who has forgotten that we all helped pave her way by supporting her music.
I had such high hopes for the concert since my last experience was flawless. Not to put Anita on a pedestal we are all human and we all have good and bad days but when you choose to be a performer and ask for a high ticket price all the audience wants is a performer who is present and giving of themselves during the performance.
I can’t speak for the second half of the show, we left, I had a feeling she was rightsizing herself and I am glad that she did that for the remaining audience.
A very disappointed fan,
December 4th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
I agree with most of your review, however, I do not feel the sound quality ever got
better as the evening wore on. I sent the below letter to the Paramount staff hoping
they could forward to someone in Ms. Bakers’s camp.
Dear General Manager and staff,
I realize the Paramount is not responsible for the quality of the shows that play your
theatre, however, I am writing to you as Anita Baker’s official website appears to be non-operational. I am hoping you can forward my comments to someone in her camp that
had a hand in the debacle that was passed off as a concert last evening.
After being made to wait for nearly 90 minutes, (could someone have not stepped to the microphone and given some type of explanation for the delay???) the sound blasted us
out of our seats and Ms. Baker was inaudable. I am a season subscriber of the San
Francisco Ballet and they manage to start within five minutes of schedule with 60 dancers
and a full orchestra, go figure. The people around us(second row of the balcony)
appeared stunned at the sound quality and horrified that they had paid $90 plus service
charge to hear nothing but bass and drums and constant feedback every time a high
note was hit (or not hit for that matter). Was there any type of soundcheck done before
Ms. Baker took the stage? It sounded as if the system was geared for an arena show it
was so unforgivably LOUD! Were the backup singers singing at all? You certainly
couldn’t tell.
I have attended over several hundred concerts/shows in my lifetime and I can honestly
say this was the most disappointing live event I have ever seen due to the sound quality.
What a shame! Such beautiful songs were butchered last night, and, at $90 per ticket I
feel cheated. I am a big Anita Baker fan, but I will never take another chance on
seeing her live as this show was, frankly, unbearable.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:36 am
She kept us waiting 90 minutes in Minneapolis for her Christmas Fantasy tour 2006/2007. A diva indeed, but worth the wait. Sound quality was excellent (and I am a professional musician).
January 1st, 2008 at 4:22 am
i was so looking to see her in greenville sc and took my best friend…ANITA insisted on her audio in lieu of the PEACE CTR’S and it was deafening.
the stage was tacky and she messed with her hair no less than 200 times as well as asking her pianist what to sing rather scream next !
i felt so bad for the audience except for maybe the front row and the audio operators / managers were obnoxious and apathatic towards my inquiry regarding the music blasting my eardrums.
i will never see her again and my friend designed dresses for her in LOS ANGELES 20 years ago and wished to say hello and ms. baker turned and walked away…
very rude and a big waste of $190. FOR MY TICKETS TO SEE A REAL BITCHY DIVA !
January 28th, 2008 at 5:25 am
We had concert tickets for 6:00 pm in Raleigh, NC, 1-27-07,drove one hour and arrived early, by 8:45 comedian was still entertaining on stage. Crowd booed bare stage, still no dive or explanation. What a disappointment. We left and asked for our money back.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:28 am
The concert was 1-27-08
January 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
We waited till 8:30 at the RBC. Did Ms. Baker ever perform? Were you successful in getting a refund?
November 30th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Ms. Baker was here in B’ham, AL last weekend. I am writing to see if anyone went and how did it turn out.