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by Xion Abidoun
I haven’t been to a concert since before the pandemic, so I forgot what a concert was like. I was pretty chill about going to the concert up until we got to the coliseum, then that’s really when the realization hit me that I was at a concert for the first time in FOUR YEARS, and that it was Erykah Badu’s concert! The first thing I noticed walking in the building was the ambiance, everything was smoky with some type of smoke machine, and there was a compilation of psychedelic art projected on the stage.
Before anyone came on stage, the coliseum was filled with screams of excitement from the crowd. Mos Def a.k.a Yasin Bey was the opening act, his performance was dope. When Erykah hit the stage the audience went crazy. She sang the timeless classic, “On & On”, in the beginning of the show. During the show, there were multiple different light sequences going on behind her, and deep cool colors like purple, blue and green penetrated the stadium. The colors matched the songs perfectly, she even danced for us, which was an unexpected surprise.
Towards the end she sang my favorite song by her, “Next Lifetime”, and added more of her razzle dazzle to it. I could literally feel the high vibrations all throughout my body throughout the whole concert. Of course she saved “Tyrone” for last, but then she performed “It Ain’t No Fun”?! Her remix went crazy though, as usual.
After the concert, we met up with some acquaintances and headed to the meet and greet. As you can imagine, the meet and greet was really exclusive, you had to have a wrist band. Once we got inside to the place holding the meet and greet, we waited about 20 minutes for her to come down. Before she entered her team, and security, gave us the “rules” which were no phones, no pictures, and no videos, I know very very exclusive.
When she came in, everyone was quiet and super starstruck. We all gathered around her, and she greeted us. She gave us the option to sit on the floor, or stand. What I liked about it is that she sat on the floor with us, and treated us as her equals. There was a microphone that was passed around and everyone who had the opportunity to have it got to ask her a question. When I had the mic I asked her “What was the inspiration behind the song Next Lifetime”, and where she got her glistening glittery red headpiece from. She told me that she liked her brother’s friend, and that is where the song “Next Lifetime” came from.
After the meet and greet she invited me, my dad, and my cousin Erica, to her dressing room. There we got to take pictures and videos with her, and I even got to have a conversation with her about my pageant. She told me to be confident, and that that is the key to life. I appreciated her advice and cherished the experience.
Xion Abiodun is a graduate of the SF Bay View’s Community Journalism Program and also a dancer. She can be reached at Xion.abiodun@gmail.com.
