Words and photos by: Ryan Hill
In late October, the grand nature of the marvellous Royal Albert Hall held the energy and love of the emphatic 2 nights of Erykah Badu’s 25th anniversary tour of the 2000 released album, Mama’s Gun.
Arriving at the venue brought on nerves as the feeling was setting in of watching the iconic Erykah Badu live at the Royal Albert Hall. Everyone was hustling and bustling to get their tickets and enter the venue while being beautifully treated by the staff at the doors and around the venue.
This evening brought the second night of Erykah Badu’s shows in London to celebrate the 25th anniversary of MAMAS GUN. This album, one of the most influential and iconic albums to date, was released in 2000 and brought some of the best R&B, soul and stunning song creation with it and has more than stood the test of time, with a sold-out tour in celebration of its anniversary.
As I made my way through the venue to where I needed to be, soaking up the setting and taking a look around at a sold-out Albert Hall, it felt truly surreal. The setting was so beautiful for the occasion, and you could feel the pulsating energy of the crowd as the background music played before she arrived on stage at one of the world’s most renowned music venues.
The lights dimmed, and her backing band made their way on stage, pausing for a moment before starting a jam which led into the intro of Penitentiary Philosophy, where a silhouette made her way up to her stage. The crowd gave a roaring welcome at her arrival. Badu was basking in the spotlight before all of a sudden the stage lit up and Erykah Badu was enlightened as she belted her way into the song. In true Badu fashion, she had an extraordinary outfit, and she changed outfits 4-5 times through the course of the show! She started with a famous large hat she is known to wear and a huge duvet-looking dress with amazing stitched designs featuring many different patterns and flags from countries around the world.
Through the first few songs, she was heavy with energy and hand movements paired perfectly with the motion and words to the songs, bringing every bit of emotion to each song as if it were the first night they were all performed 25 years ago. Going through the setlist in the same order as the album, every hit came after one another, such as Didn’t Cha Know, …& on, and Cleva, before making it to a point of the show where she wanted to share a few words.
Erykah spoke about how we all have 2 deaths, the first when our body dies and the second being when our we or our art is spoken of for the last time. These words were shared in memory of the tragic passing of the late D’Angelo, a pioneer of soul and R&B music who will never have to experience that second death, as he will forever be immortalised with the music and influence he created as a musician. This speech, after cheers from the crowd, was blessed to have been spoken to in this loving nature from Erykah Badu, transitioned into an emotion-filled, hard-hitting cover of Shit, Damn, Motherfucker, a song by the late D’Angelo that featured on his hit 1995 album, Brown Sugar.
Badu moved perfectly through the rest of the setlist getting to masterful songs like, Orange moon and Times A Wastin’ that brought stunning lighting that dazzled around the Royal Albert Hall as everyone watched in pure awe of the evening they were experiencing, spotlights danced around the ceilings as an orange spotlight covered Erykah as she delicately delivered the song Orange Moon, a beautifully written song about a mother being given light in life from her son.
Many more outfit changes came and went as she now was wearing a lighter dress paired with bold necklaces as she went into the closing song from the album and my personal favourite, Green Eyes, I could feel this was one the crowd were especially waiting for even more so than the songs previous to it, phones came out and gasps were given before people around me eagerly started singing along with Erykah for the melodical intro to the 10 minute ballad of the ages and making sure to capture it for their friends and family, with some people facetiming loved ones to share the moment. Every note was delivered with such mastery that I was in disbelief at the sheer perfection to which this performance was given. It was everything I wanted it to be and so much more.
As the final note settled into silence and immediate applause to end the music for the night, Erykah gave thanks to her backing band and shared appreciation to everyone who came along. It was the highest praise for the evening that everyone had just experienced. A truly wonderful night.