(Photos by Dakin Hardwick)
I am a new fan of Jamila Woods, having just discovered her through Spinning Platters’ intense and wonderful Album of the Year process, and I’m so glad I did. Jamila Woods is an amazing writer, and her music fills the soul. On the stormiest Sunday California has seen in a long time, I trekked through the almost deserted streets of San Francisco in the hopes that music would take away the wet and soggy feelings I’d had all weekend.
Madison McFerrin was the surprise last-minute opener, and the crowd was very excited about it. The show sold out earlier in the day after she was announced as the opener, so there were quite a few fans there. Madison McFerrin walked out to loud applause, accompanied by Julius Rodriguez on the keys (who we found out played piano on Michelle Ndegeocello’s album that won a Grammy earlier that day!). McFerrin looked STUNNING, wearing a black partially sheer bodysuit and glittery fishnet over it. It gave a glamorous yet modern vibe I really liked. She went straight into her opening song and did about a 20-minute set. Her music is soulful R&B with an ethereal vibe. Her vocals are smooth and light but with a darker edge. She really controlled the stage and entertained us with witty banter and stories between all the songs. Each song had a nice long intro telling us about her writing process and life. Interestingly, the darkest songs were also the most upbeat musically, as McFerrin said a couple of times, “I like to dance to my trauma.” Me too, me too!
There was a small crowd switchover in the front where the Madison McFerrin fans moved back for the Jamila Woods fans to take over. And take over, they did! It was a sold-out show on a stormy stormy night, and Jamila came out thanking her fans for braving the weather to see her. She wore an elegant, partially sheer all-black outfit and was a striking figure on stage. Woods is full of expression; her eyes and smile are so engaging and uplifting to watch, and she brings so much joy and light to the stage. Jamila Woods may be more of a poet than a singer, but her voice was wonderful live. She has a sweet, clean, soft tone that pierces through and lights up the room. Her head voice is really lovely, and I honestly thought she sounded better live than on the record. Her band did a great job as well; there was bass, guitar, keyboards (3 of them!), and drums. They were able to recreate the sound of her albums but make them even more exciting.
What really caught my attention, though, was the ebb and flow of energy in the room and how Jamila Woods commanded it from the stage. The energy was pretty high from the start; she opened with “Bugs,” the first song on her newest album, Water Made Us. She played the first 6 songs off the album in order, including the spoken word interludes. At first, I didn’t realize until “Practice,” my current favorite song, came on third in the set. I think other people in the crowd were also excited to hear it as the energy shifted up a level, as did the dancing along. She broke the album order by going to “Basquiat,” which shifted the energy and dancing to an even higher level. It stayed up until during the intro to “Wolfsheep” about a difficult breakup. Here’s the thing: Jamila Woods is a poet and a master of words and storytelling, so it was impossible for us not to feel the pain in that song. Afterward, she had to say, “Are you guys ok?” and we cheered and perked up immediately for the next song, “Still,” which led into a fun cover of Paramore’s “That’s What You Get.” The rest of the set was all up and dancing from there. We even got an extra encore song that wasn’t on the setlist!
After all that, the rain walking home hit differently, I floated home on an energy high. Nothing could bring me down after such inspiring and beautiful performances.
