John Legend at Starlight

Never have I ever seen anything in a merchandise booth at a concert for $1, until John Legend with Gallant at Starlight. They had Gallant sad-face hats for $1, I guess just not wanting to carry them to the next venue. They sold out before the show began, but of course they did for $1, hell I never heard of Gallant until this and I bought three.

Anyhow the stage setup for Gallant was pretty bare for the quartet:

I got an old school R&B vibe from Gallant, and his dancing (perhaps “shockwaves” is a better way to describe it) from the snare drum shots reminded me of watching James Brown throw himself around. His band was good and his set was well done.

Gallant used the same screens as John Legend but in very simple layout:

It is kinda weird to watch a concert at 1930 and it be total daylight, but that’s the summer’ish months in Kansas for you. Kinda ruins the lighting effects but with a nice breeze Starlight even in total daylight is an awesome venue.

John Legend started off by using the, different is good word, hole created by the screen panels and then having him setting at his grand piano in the middle with some crazy visuals on the panels, an interesting effect:

John displayed his pianist skills by playing along to his powerful voice on several of his hits and also showing his dancing skills on others. His video panels were really sharp and with their ability to spin in different angles provided some a cool looking backdrops to the set:


He did bring a full band including a horn section and three backup singers (who were not only talented singers but nice to watch dance around):

Towards the end he hand some personal remarks about his family and throughout he seemed to emphasize that loving others is his thing. He made some remarks about telling the one you were with you love them and if you were on a date it would make for an interesting date. He closed with his piano coming towards the front of the stage and himself being projected onto this set panels:

John’s set was great, his voice was not what I would say as strong as it is on his albums (not saying bad just saying not as powerful and clear as his recordings) but his piano work was excellent and overall he was very entertaining.

Me and my Angie sitting in the sun waiting for the set:

 

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