[dropcap]A[/dropcap]round 6:30 Sunday night, my boyfriend and I snuck our way into the House of Blues restaurant. We thought we were being clever. We saw a sign that said, “Bypass the line.” Our dinner beers were already beginning to fade, and the line to get in looked like an eminent doom. We thought we were being clever. Let me just preface this whole evening by saying: unless you plan on buying a burger, no, no, no you cannot “bypass the line.” Even if you tell the waitress you’re on a diet, and then ask her if French Fries would do, you’re not clever (*cough* me), and bypassing such a line, takes reservations and planning. Damn.
Thankfully, Jurassic 5’s 20-years-in-the-making “Word of Mouth Reunion Tour” was far more interesting than failed attempts to skip the line along Lansdowne Street. After the doors opened at 7, and I got through the fated, but not terribly long, line for the show. I had a solid hour before any of the acts began.
I looked around. I saw a lot of “bros” in a sea of red wristbands. The median age of attendees had to be no greater than 25. However, I was surprised to see a short man in a green polo just out of nowhere start break dancing in the middle of the floor. Enthusiasm surely, was not a missing component in the night’s festivities.
We were all in it together.
MC Supernatural kicked the night off with an impressive free-style. Eyes bulging as he grabbed various objects from audience members hands — lighters, shitty beers, fitted caps, wads of cash, to name a few — he managed to somehow intertwine them all into one seamless rap. He said it was his favorite part of the performance. I have to admit, it was probably mine too.
DJ Babu had a lot of stage time, as he also mixed as Supernatural spit. He took the stage, once again, to back up his Los Angeles based, hip hop group Dilated Peoples, who, in short, partook in a senseless amount of self-promotion. I felt like their ill performance became a popularity contest Q and A. Front man, MC Evidence looked a bit strung out and pasty. Other front man Rakaa was sporting New Balance shoes (Boston represent), so they had that going for them.
Finally, a little after 10, Jurassic 5 took the stage. I felt instantly nostalgic as the blue lights faded up, revealing DJ’s Cut Chemist and NU-Mark, and MC’s Chali 2na, Marc 7, Akil, and Zaakir. The melodic “coming together” of the foursome’s voices re-ignited the belief that the “fifth” member of the group was in fact, some spiritual entity, alive and well, cultivating their harmonies. I felt like I was 14 again, riding around in the back of my friend’s car, blaring “Concrete Schoolyard,” and screaming the words, not singing, at the top of my lungs.
I turned around at points, to see if the rest of the audience had maintained their enthusiasm through out the night. Unsurprisingly, they had. As the music hall transformed from blue, to white, to disco balls, to pink and purple light, hundreds of hands remained tirelessly in the “sky,” and my fellow concertgoers infinitely bobbed their heads, to and fro.
There was the introduction of some new material. There were even moments of synchronized dance, which hinted more at the Temptations, rather than Los Angeles rappers. Jurassic 5 however, gave blush-worthy renditions of their classics: “Concrete Schoolyard,” “Jayou,” “High Fidelity,” and even “Work It Out,” a 2006 track featuring Dave Mathews off Feedback).
The night’s highlight, however, had to be their performance “Freedom,” off 2002’s Power In Numbers. The clock began to turn back time, in what would seem like a mysterious turn of events. As the group performed, the stage and floor lit up to a sunshine hue, and the whole venue was blanketed in a swarm of yellow. It looked eerily identical to the Power In Numbers album cover, and I swear, for just a moment, I saw Chali 2na magically, turn 12 years younger. Then I blinked.
