Official Concert-Going Checklist
Phase One
Avoid L.A. traffic on the way to the February 22 show: Check
Pay an arm and a leg for parking: Check
Pick-up tickets from the will-call window: Check
Be pleasantly surprised that they're all-access press passes: Negative
Wait in line and be baffled by girl who seemed a bit too excited to be at this show: Check
Be informed that no cameras are allowed: Check
Sneak camera in anyway: Check
Try to snap a few pics and get caught by security: Check
Pay five dollars to have the valet service baby-sit camera: Check
Phase Two
Return just in time to notice that Defari is opening: Check
Take time to contemplate how Defari has gone from major-label record deal to doing fifteen-minute opening sets: Check
Get asked by random guy when my album is coming out: Check
Express confusion because no such album exists: Check
Watch Little Brother put on an amazing show: Check
Be amazed at how guest vocalist Darien Brockington stole the show: Check
Be disappointed by Phonte: Negative
Have Little Brother's performance remind me of why concerts can be awesome: Check
Express sadness that their set was only thirty minutes: Check
Phase Three
Admire Dilated Peoples for being able to attract fans from every rung of the socioeconomic ladder: Check
Reminisce over a Dilated show a few years back where a belligerent Evidence smashed a beer bottle over his head at the conclusion of "Ear Drums Pop": Check
Appreciate the excitement that Dilated provided at that show despite not sounding its best: Check
Notice a more refined, better-sounding, flashier performance this time around: Check
Be lulled to sleep by the first half of this performance: Check
Notice the crowd actually thinning out: Check
Comment to myself that a lot of Dilated's songs do not translate to exciting concert material: Check
Come to the conclusion that on-stage guest Krondon is the worst performer ever: Check
Suffer through banal, stereotypical elements of the non-mainstream hip-hop show ("Is hip hop in the building tonight?" and "We all need to have love for one another," followed by inevitable anti-war raps): Check
Wonder when hip-hop shows acquired stereotypical elements: Check
Find myself hoping that Evidence pulls out an empty beer bottle: Check
Watch Evidence break another bottle over his head: Negative
Actually be disappointed by their professionalism: Check
Forget about all gripes when they breakout all heavy-hitters such as "Proper Propaganda," "Marathon," "Love and War," and "Worst Comes to Worst": Check
Wonder when I became so cynical toward a group I used to love: Check.
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Little Brother, live at the Canal Room, February 6, 2006
Prefix review: Little Brother [The Chitlin Circuit 1.5] by Matthew Gasteier
Dilated Peoples »
