On Saturday at Fair St. Louis, En Vogue and Musiq Soulchild took to the Post Foods Parade Town stage for free back-to-back concerts. And although they sang on the same exact stage, their performances could not have been more different.
Because Musiq was advertised as the headliner (a decision that would be very questionable by the end of the night), En Vogue performed first. Standing in front of a thousand fans waiting to hear if they still had “it,” the dynamic girl group proved why they dominated the charts during the early 90s.
Tight and toned as they were in their 20s, En Vogue (minus one) had the majority of the audience on their feet by the time they exited stage left.
They breezed through their slew of hits, from “Free Your Mind” to “Don’t Let Go” to “My Lovin’,” and had the crowd jamming for their entire set. The three veteran singers certainly proved they still have what it takes to bring down a packed house.
Things didn’t go as smoothly for the usually flawless performer Musiq Soulchild. He followed behind the group some 30 minutes later, and to the disappointment of many, he allowed technical issues to get the best of him.
It wasn’t even 15 minutes into the hour-long set when the acoustics began to falter and his smooth vocals started to fade in and out. Instead of stopping the show to fix the problem, he decided to power through and was met with harsh criticism from the audience.
His frustration was noticeably apparent. Whether he was upset with the crowd, the audio blunders, or a mixture of the two, it was clear Musiq was off of his game. The normally level-headed R&B crooner even confronted multiple audience members for being less than enthusiastic about his performance.
Even Meelah Williams, of the group 702 and most recently “R&B Divas: Atlanta,” couldn’t be heard when she joined her man onstage because of what appeared to be a faulty microphone.
Despite all of the technical issues, he sang his big hits like “Buddy,” “Love” and “So Beautiful,” albeit most were unrecognizable. It wasn’t that anything was lacking on his part; it was the malfunctioning speakers that distorted almost every note of his beautiful melodies.
Following En Vogue is no easy feat and unfortunately, Musiq didn’t live up to the hype this time around. Hopefully he will be back in St. Louis soon for an encore performance that rightly showcases his impressive vocal abilities.
As for En Vogue, they may have won over a new generation of fans with an outstanding performance that will definitely be talked about for days to come.
