Janelle Monae: Moody Theater: October 8, 2018

Have you ever seen s a smile so perfect, so electric, so real, that it burned its way into your brain and is still a resounding memory a day later?  Monae uses her perfect little smile like a weapon, a sneaky, laser-focused ray of pure sunshine to wash over the crowd at any moment.  I don't think I've ever seen one like it in person.

This show was amazing.  I had seen her the day before at ACL Fest, but in the small, intimate space of the Moody, for an ACL TV show taping, it was so very cool to see her from up close, to really be able to watch the mastery of her dance moves and her costumes and her endearing interactions with her dancers.  The music is great too - a funky version of R&B and rap (her track "Django Jane" is hard anyway, but seeing her sit down in a huge, gilded throne and spit it while lounging like a bored queen is something else).  She had amazing backup dancers who fully appear to be having a fun time on that stage, and her band is great.  She uses echoes of Prince, James Brown, Michael Jackson - the kinds of performers who gave you a legitimate show every time, with eight costumes and choreography and an obvious desire to involve you in the show and make it a well-orchestrated party.  After seeing many bands in the past few days who just throw up their name on the screen in the background and play their tunes, this was refreshingly awesome.

She also invited people up on stage to dance, one by one, to "I Got That Juice."  My wife and I both commented that our faces hurt from smiling after that segment of the show.  It was hilarious and fun to see these random people give it their all (or medium level all, in one girl's case) on a TV show that will be played for decades.

The thing that we walked out the show talking about was her voice.  I mean, its one thing to have a good voice that stays in tune when you are on an album, when producers can use all of their digital tricks and tweaks to perfect just about anything.  But its a totally different experience to watch someone jump around on stage and dance her way through a number while still nailing all the notes in multiple registers.  I've become a large fan of this stuff.

This song didn't pop to me when I first heard it for the ACL preview, but since then, its message of being happy and satisfied and feeling good has stuck with me.

That little rapped bit about three quarters of the way through, where she laments her memory of childhood slights, but knew even then that she was the shit.  During the performance, she goes on to compliment several people in the audience for something special about them - an afro, pink braids, a t-shirt.  The whole thing felt special.  She likely does it at every show, and its just a thing, but I don't care.  I like that.

Go see this lady.