St. Louis fans were granted the rare opportunity of a glimpse inside the mind of the man and the music for a pre-Valentine’s Day performance at the Lumiere Theatre Saturday night.
There was not a seat to be had at either show as fans packed in to get an intimate portrait of the singer for a scaled down performance. The nights accompaniment consisted of a man and his piano…and a guitar or two.
Love, life and music were up for discussion to segue between songs from McKnight’s 20-year career. When he burst on the scene, he offered a fresh crossover perspective for R&B music in a period when new jack swing and raunchy soul ran the charts. Saturday night was mostly a memory lane experience – for McKnight as much as the fans.
He talked about his childhood and his family’s organic connection to music, his slip-ups and fall downs in love and the elements of creating a McKnight musical classic in the midst of performing songs such as “Back at One,” “Anytime,” “Never Felt This way,” “One Last Cry” and other hits.
There was no band or elaborate set. But on this night it would have only distracted attention from his impressive, fluid first tenor vocals and impressive falsetto.
The good news is that McKnight’s vocals were pristine. The bad news is that his attempts to be witty and clever fell flat.
McKnight is a talented musician, but far less charming than he gives himself credit for with respect to non-musical charisma. The funny bits fizzled – especially a terrible mimic of a Saturday Night Live bit that pokes fun at the seductive accent of Antonio Banderas. The raw emotion came across as extremely unauthentic.
But all of the hiccups found within the speaking part of his productions seemed to forgiven the minute McKnight returned to his brilliant melodies lined with heartfelt love note lyrics.
While a professionally written script- that McKnight strictly adhered to – could have made all of the difference with respect to the yawn-factor, it was still a good night for love and music.
