D’Angelo didn’t just give us music, he reorganized us.
June 2015. The Warriors were in the playoffs and I walked from a watch party at the New Parkway to the Fox in Oakland to catch this leg of the Black Messiah tour. I bought one ticket because so had everyone else I would have taken with me. The show had a slow build that I’d never experienced before. Three sets if I remember correctly. It was almost like we were being teased. I usually don’t like standing in a giant crowd like this but this was different. I wanted to be in it.
After what felt like hours, D’Angelo walks to the front of the stage and the band starts playing Untitled. How Does It Feel. Whatever you want to call it. You know the guitar line. You know the chords. And that damn minor chord off the V always puts you in another lane. But he doesn’t sing. The band vamps. He walks up, he walks back, the intro loops and we wait. I remember it like it was yesterday.
The pheromones in the room were about to set off the fire alarm. HIT US WITH IT ALREADY. When he finally drops the, “Girl it’s only you,” the room explodes. And in that same moment, the guy standing next to me has a full seizure and falls into me. I catch him and lay him on the floor as the rest of the room soars over the peak of this epic moment. People clear out a bit and the guy gets medical attention and is taken away.
I don’t know what was going on for this guy who collapsed into me, but I do know D’Angelo did it. This is what he did. He didn’t just give us music, he short-circuited our nervous systems.
R.I.P.
I decided to look up a video from that night on YouTube and found one from the other side of the room that someone had taken. It captures some of the tension and the release. Play it loud to catch more of the vibe. Unreal.
