I ended my weekend with the smooth sounds of R&B veteran Joe. Anybody who knows me knows that I will catch Joe wherever he sings, because he is one of the most consistent live performers in R&B. Now, he will throw a fit in a heartbeat if the sound is not right tight – but he doesn’t owe anybody who buys a ticket a single thing. He worked up a sweat at the Ambassador Sunday night, which was packed to the gills with your grown cousins and aunties trying to look sexy for Joe. The kitten heel flipflops and rayon blouse mafia was in the building! Note to the vixens of a certain age who have maintained their shapes enough to pull off something skin tight: if your catsuit has stirrups, you might want to upgrade into something for this current century. They were hollering the whole Ambassador down and dancing in the aisles for Joe. But the opening acts…not so much. I’m saying this out of love, but there are levels to it – and you can’t just come out the gate singing a Luther tribute if you’re not all the way ready. Start with Keith Sweat, graduate to some Kashif and then try to master Tony Terry first. Please don’t take this as hate. Luther is no joke. The Rachelle Ferrell/Will Downing cover was cute though. And anybody who didn’t know that Snoopy does not mess around when it comes to keeping time when he manages a stage, learned the hard way Sunday night. Poor Baby D was like “A house is not a home when…good night everybody.” Ok, now I can get on with the man of the hour. As per usual, Joe absolutely killed it – and his voice was in prime form. He did the hits. He sped it up and slowed it down. He even gave an encore with his cover of Adele’s “Hello.” He put his foot in that finale y’all!
