As KCRW’s oddly named World Festival continued on Sunday night at the Bowl, Adele and Janelle Monae got schooled in the art of being a legend by the incomparable Chaka Khan. A last minute replacement for the apparently ailing Etta James, Khan easily flexed her still radiant vocal muscle, putting her multi-octave range on display throughout a set that included many of her hits. Opening with “I Feel For You” there was something for everyone as the crowd alternately sang along and even jumped to their feet for closer “I’m Every Woman.” While Khan’s performance not only reminded everyone of how many familiar songs she has recorded over her nearly four decades-long career, it also showed her junior divas how to come prepared and command a crowd.
The latter was somewhat of an issue for Monae, as the struggled to galvanize attention during her short set. The Bowl is a hard venue to play, and while Monae has spent the last six months on the road – recently wrapping dates with No Doubt and Paramore – she’s far from seasoned and her material is far from familiar enough to get a somewhat unforgiving crowd on board. Kudos to her for trying something new with an on-stage painting performance. As she sang, she added strokes of color to a canvas which was later given to the audience. What a gift. For Monae’s next performance, it would be great if she could expand beyond the five and a half songs of her EP plus a Beatles song. She’s a talented singer and an impressive dancer and mover. With more to draw on, she could be unstoppable.
But talent alone doesn’t make for a legendary show, as Adele demonstrated in the nights final set. Yes, Adele was the headliner of the event, somewhat confounding if you compare the catalogs of either James or Khan. And while it was endearing to hear the young singer’s confession that the size of the crowd was intimidating, less endearing was her frequent lyrical memory loss. Nothing can take away from the sheer power of her voice. The simplicity of her singing while strumming a guitar is so stunningly beautiful, it had the entire Bowl in a hush. But when she had to stop the band and the Hollywood Bowl Strings (tapped to perform with her in this special performance) because she forgot the words to “Melt My Heart to Stone,” it just seemed unprofessional. Equally bizarre was a quasi-performance of “Thriller,” which she introduced, started to sing and then moved away from the mic and dance on stage. The band didn’t play the whole song, but it would have been amazing to hear that voice sing that song on that night – had she only remembered the lyrics! Her rendition of The Raconteurs’ “Many Shades of Black” confirmed the suspicion that it’s not just her material that makes her exceptional and the premiere of a new song (probably fated for her second album) confirmed that her songwriting abilities are considerable.
Ultimately, her graciousness made the performance a winning one, but there’s nothing Adele did to dull the shine of Chaka. And that’s ok… thirty-five years from now we’ll be comparing Adele to another young singer making her Hollywood Bowl debut.
Second and third photos from “It Happened Last Night at the Bowl.” More can be seen here.
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