A Review of Co-LAB #3: A Dom Jones Perspective

So, I was pretty pissed because I was a few minutes late and missed Sandman, who was only given a seven minute set and was put at the very beginning of the show... but we'll talk about the structural issues I had with this show a bit later. When I arrived, there was another rapper beginning his set. I said wassup to some folks, and then after said rapper left the stage, I set in to watch Mic G, thus beginning my set review of this show act by act.

MIC-G
I had high hopes for this brother's set. Mic-G has a certain energy that is hard to rival. He is very much original in his style and swagger... unfortunately, I felt that Mic-G's set suffered from him having no features or at least just a hype man. I found myself bored during his set, and not even Will Bracy's beats accompanying Mic-G could rouse me from my stupor. My hope is that in the future, his set (and his songs) will have more bells and whistles.


SO TIMELESS

First of all, WOW. I was shocked that the climax of the night would come mid-show. However, it did. So Timeless brought their band out and WRECKED THE PLACE. While the front man is Jonah, it was clear that Lonnye Dotson (the other male vocalist) stooooole the show. The man has range, the man has swag, and even more candidly dare I say "panty throwing" tone. He was completely uninhibited hitting notes that some female vocalists would be hard pressed to execute. Jonah also gave a solid performance, and overall this group had a really well put together sound and polish. The crowd seemed pleased during the entirety of the set, and the energy and vibe in the building hit such a warm, positive peak. Something that I really enjoyed was the fact that while they did some really great original songs, they also did some covers. I often find that when bands do covers, they typically don't do them justice, but So Timeless and Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Making Love" found each other willing partners and melded well into a stone groove. WONDERFUL!

JERN EYE
Most of us are familiar with Jern Eye from his group Lunar Heights. This act, for me, was COMPLETELY misplaced in the show... I mean... He was the one who stuck out as someone whose style of hip hop did not fit with the other acts. It was clear that he was a solid performer, I will give that, but once again I found myself bored during this set. Something that I feel could have helped his set was some current industry covers. His appeal seemed to have been to an older hip hop crowd, even... the so called "backpacker" sort of hip hop lovers. I don't really think his audience was in the building, thus I saw the place clear out somewhat for an early intermission of sorts.

MOE GREEN

May I just say... I love MOE GREEN!!!! His set was so well put together as far as stage presence is concerned. While I feel like Moe could use some more cohesive production to really gel that sound, I absolutely love the energy of him as the front man and his hype man and DJ as accessories to the act. There was definite head bobbing, and even when I didn't necessarily like a song, I still FELT good energy coming from the Moe Green team. I really hope that the Bay embraces this brother for the diamond in the rough that he is. I have a strong feeling that he is going places. In so far as the show, folks started to regather at the stage for this one, and I was hopeful that the energy would ascend once more.





ISIS GENISIS

AS USUAL, Isis Genisis came out with amazing energy, and did something I was crossing my fingers for: NEW MATERIAL!!! Oh, of course we got to "Liberate" and "Illuminate" but we also got a taste of some new Isis material, which I thoroughly appreciated. Performing with an oh-so-precious Baby Bump T-shirt (Isis is expecting, y'all!), she gave us an ever irreverant song about social networking, and her hatred of it. Talking about how "That Myspace bitch," "That Facebook bitch," and "That Twitter bitch" (respectively... lol) tried to get at her man... and of course she wasn't having it, Isis really got the crowd hyped and excited for the rest of her set. We love Isis, her commitment to her unique style/sound, and it was fantastic to see her back in action!






J MYERS
The first sign of trouble? NO GUITAR. The J Myers trademark, for me, is his trusty guitar. When I didn't see it walk on stage with him, I relented a sigh and hoped for the best. I did not get the best. I'm going to keep it EXTRA solid right now. Getting on stage inebriated is a choice that is both in poor taste and irresponsible to your audience. J Myers made this choice, performing 90% rap tracks, and then when the audience pleaded for him to lengthen his set (no doubt to get some singing from him) he gave a startlingly off-key, a capella rendition of "Cool As A Fan." I mean... what can I say? J Myers was not at his best at all last night, we all saw it, and I personally was disappointed because I've seen him be FANTASTIC. All I can do is admonish ALL artists to please refrain from over indulgence in liquor at least until AFTER your set. It's not a good look.

***THE SHOW OVERALL***
This is the third, and least successful, Co-LAB in my opinion. Why? First and foremost, the first two had live bands for EVERY SINGLE ACT, giving the show a cohesiveness that this one clearly lacked. Some folks had bands, some didn't. I didn't enjoy the back and forth, and it came off as inconsistent and cheap. Secondly, there was only ONE female act in the entire show! I take a personal affront to this because I KNOW that there are tons of amazing female acts who could have easily fit well into this show. Third, the order of the show also came into question for me. Based on what I saw, Jern Eye should have opened the show, SandMan should have been later in the show, and as stated, some acts didn't even fit well in the bigger picture of things. All of that being said, I DID enjoy myself, and I DO appreciate Aquil and FUXWITIT ENT. putting on shows like these to showcase Bay Area artists. I simply feel that some improvements can be made in the future. I'd like to give super props to So Timeless for being the SUPERSTARS of the evening, and encourage the Bay Area as a whole to come out and support events like this more fervently! This has been a Dom Jones perspective... AND what?