Lalah Hathaway’s angelic voice and reputation for wowing audiences in live performance were the major selling points of the Sophisticated Soul Tour, which made its final stop in St. Louis Sunday night at Stifel Theatre after a four-city run.
But the stage presence, energy and charisma of R&B veteran and self-proclaimed “Love King” Raheem DeVaughn ending up being the highlight of the evening’s musical offerings.
After a brief bit of comic relief and sounds to set the tone for the night by DJ Lightfoot, Lyfe Jennings was first to the microphone. Accompanied by tracks and a keyboard player, he opened his set with “Superman” one of his lesser known tracks. After complaining about a lack of energy from the crowd, Jennings opted for “Stickup Kid” as his second selection instead of appeasing the masses by selecting from his handful of radio hits to warm the crowd up by way of familiarity. With strong vocals and high impact for an R&B crooner, Jennings made his way back and forth across the stage while delivering an extended version of his song “Statistics.” He shared some words of wisdom before diving into “Karma.”
“You’ll keep meeting the same person in your relationships until you learn the lesson,” Jennings said. “I’m telling you what I know based on what I’ve lived.”
Jennings then gave snippets of his better known songs – “S.E.X.” and “Hypothetically” among them – with the disclaimer that he wouldn’t have time to perform them. He spent precious time complaining about the few minutes he had remaining – which ate into what could have been one or two additional selections.
It would be his “Must Be Nice” finale before the crowd fully warmed up to his performance.
While Jennings called out the crowd for what he deemed as a lack of energy, Raheem DeVaughn put in work to engage with them. He emerged from a side door and scooted on stage in a full length fur and red three-piece suit. “Black Ice Cream,” “That Way” and “Reverse” weren’t the most popular of his nearly 15-year catalog of jams, but he and his band sold the audience on them to the point where they couldn’t help but catch a groove. By the time he made it to his Grammy nominated radio hit “Woman” the audience was locked in – and he never let them go. The sing along vibe continued with “Guess Who Loves You More” and “You.” He sidestepped into his political music with “Bulletproof” and even took a knee towards the end of his performance of “America.” But DeVaughn quickly veered back into his “love making music” before closing the show with “Customer.”
Lalah Hathaway was the headliner for The Sophisticated Soul Tour. As always. her voice was in mint condition as it melted over the microphone – but fans didn’t seem blown away by her choice of songs for this particular set. She usually goes old and new school – and even sprinkles a few selections from her father, late soul legend Donny Hathaway in for his hometown when she comes to St. Louis. Sunday night audiences wouldn’t be so lucky. She kept close to the theme of her latest album “Honestly” from the first track “Change Ya Life” to the last “I Can’t Wait.” She did, however, bless the crowd with her mind blowing cover of Anita Baker’s “Angel” that includes a brief medley of Baker’s biggest hits. She also gave them her rendition of Earth Wind and Fire’s “Would You Mind” and the Luther Vandross classic “Forever, For Always, For Love.” But fans were left longing for her earlier material – including “I’m Coming Back,” “Heaven Knows” and “Something.”
