“THIS SHOW IS SOLD OUT AND THERE ARE NO MORE TICKETS BECAUSE THIS IS A SOLD OUT SHOW THAT IS SOLD OUT”
One would think that the pink sign on the door of the Ready Room would stop the folks without tickets from trying to squeeze into the Jidenna show Sunday night. It didn’t.
Some without tickets even stood in the line – which stretched two blocks and lasted three hours to fully clear – knowing full well what the sign said.
“Who’s playing there tonight?” a passer-by asked as he maneuvered around the line to make his way down Manchester. “Jidenna,” several fans yelled, accidentally responding in unison.
“Who?” The man asked.
“He’s a singer and a rapper who was discovered by Janelle Monae,” a young woman said.
“Who is that?” The man followed up. “Well they must be pretty good,” the man said as he casually strolled towards his destination before the woman got a chance to try and hem him up with a brief oral history of the rising star.
Those who braved the lines and the humidity from the capacity crowd inside the Ready Room as St. Louis became the latest in a string of sold-out shows for his “Long Live The Chief” Tour know that he’s better than “pretty good.”
He exploded on the scene with his hit single “Classic Man” in 2015 and has been riding the wave as one to watch on the hip-hop and R&B scene. Since, then he’s been proving that he’s anything but a one-hit wonder with his unique style that blends his African roots and pays homage to the artists Harlem Renaissance and the jazz era – when it was standard operating procedure to be dressed to the nines with swag and stage presence to spare.
As Jidenna unloaded selections from his debut album “The Chief,” it was clear that his success was no fluke – and that he will rightfully be a part of the cool kids’ conversation when it comes to music for some time.
An extended mix of tribal sounds kicked off the show for the Nigerian-American – who makes it his business to flex his roots both as part of his performance and persona.
Over the course of his hour-plus set, Jidenna laced his tenor vocals over a refreshing mix of reggae, Afro beat and traditional hip-hop beats as he cranked out songs from his acclaimed record.
He has the style of crooners like Nat “King” Cole or Billy Eckstein, but with the energy of the current crop of R&B artists that have crossed over into mainstream thanks to catchy tunes with matching choreography.
Jidenna proved himself to be worthy of the hype –and Monae’s endorsement – as he engaged with the audience, never missing a beat while encouraging them to join in through selections like “Bambi,” “Trampoline” and “Safari.”
The crowd erupted when the music for his biggest hit “Classic Man” began – though they and never truly settled down from the time he hit the stage.
Like his mentor Monae, Jidenna promotes individuality while his peers are selling sex, drugs and swag.
“No matter what you say, or where you go or what you do or how you pray, somebody’s gonna feel some kind of way,” Jidenna said – and the crowd joined in without prompting for his finale “Some Kind of Way.”
And his signature style has him well on the way to becoming a household name.
