Stern Grove is one of my favorite places, but I have never make it out there enough. It’s a sunny oasis in the middle of the foggiest reaches of San Francisco’s Sunset District, and every year, they commit to a Summer’s worth of amazing free shows. (Donate here to help keep these shows coming) I often feel intimidated by the commute, traveling from Oakland to the city’s furthest reaches across the bay. However, whenever I get here, I remember how magical this place is. And it doesn’t hurt that our show this afternoon features one of my bucket list artists, recently Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Inductee Chaka Khan.
After getting myself situated and finding myself surrounded by the happiest, sun-baked, and wine-drunk music fans on Earth, I took in a fantastic set of 70s and 80s R&B and Funk from the house DJ. Folks were already pretty well hyped even before opener Steel Pulse took the stage. Honestly, I was a little worried that an hour-long reggae set would bring the energy down, not up.
I’ll need to fess up here… I’ve never heard a note of Steel Pulse. I know very little about them, and I probably should have done some homework. I was expecting the kind of “generic reggae band” that tends to only be booked for reggae festivals and weed conferences. I experienced a high-energy, ferocious, emotional rollercoaster of a set closer to The Clash and The Specials than a watered-down version of Bob Marley. This is clearly a political band that is just as determined to make you dance as they are looking to bring down white supremacy and income inequality. Little did I realize that one of the most famous political straight-edge bands took their name from the Steel Pulse album Earth Crisis, which looks like a 1977 punk record, and I’m adding this to my shopping list now because this band was good.
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I’m looking back at my 2024, and I’ve seen a LOT of legends live this year so far… Grace Jones, Bikini Kill, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen… Amazing shows by all of them. After doing this for multiple decades, they all put on the perfect show you expect. They all loomed larger than life on stage, exuding the energy of a holy deity. Chaka Khan and her 50 years on stage ended up feeling very, very different than those four. And, dare I say it, it might have been the best show of all of them.
Khan didn’t come on stage with any thunder or fanfare. Her backup singers almost hid her, and she came out singing “This Is My Night” with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on any human being. She exuded joy and a love of the music being made on that stage. She danced around like a fan and was, for lack of a better word, “vibing.” It was one of the most genuine performances I’ve ever experienced. Chaka Khan clearly doesn’t play a character and doesn’t have a stage persona. She’s a nerdy music fan who can’t stop playing air guitar and happened to write quite a few chapters in the old rock n roll history books.
The show was packed with hits, and it was glorious. Upon the first notes of “Tell Me Something Good,” I quickly packed away my camera to be in the moment, singing along and dancing to one of the greatest songs ever written. Khan basically felt the same way. Energy was the afternoon’s theme, and it came from everywhere, feeding from the audience to the artist and back again. When the pre-recorded voice of Grandmaster Melle Mel boomed over the speakers, saying “Chaka. Chaka Khan Chaka Khaka Chaka Khan” as the intro for “I Feel 4 U,” my heart may have jumped out of my chest and back in.
Even when the set slowed down for songs like “Through The Wire” and “I Remember U,” Khan still gave the intensity, showing off that, in her 70s, she can still bring the vocal pyrotechnics that singers 1/4 her age can’t handle.
The show ended with a 2fer that any artist would be envious of getting to close with: “I’m Every Woman,” which prompted the already very sunburnt and drunk group of women to my right to pour shots for each other with arms linked, screaming the lyrics, enjoying the song EXACTLY the way it was meant to be. And she harnessed the entire energy of the hot sun to close with a smoldering “Ain’t Nobody” that did its job making sure everyone there sweat the last drops of wine out so they could safely travel home.
