I was around 13 years of age when my sister purchased a copy of Erykah Badu’s debut album Baduizm - until then I mainly enjoyed her Fresh Prince and LL Cool J CD’s. Even without much understanding of music, let alone soul and hip hop I was instantly drawn to the sound of jazz-infused beats and butter smooth vocals. So began my love for neo-soul; artists like D’ Angelo, Maxwell and Bilal appealed to me much more than any 2Pac record ever did. Hence, Baduizm will forever be one of the most important LP’s to me, and Erykah Badu one of the most important artists.

A few days after the 15th anniversary of Baduizm’s release, Erykah Badu headed two very special concerts at the iconic Sydney Opera House. I had already seen Erykah Badu at the most recent edition of Good Vibrations, a set which didn’t quite match up to my extremely high expectations. As such, my expectations were a bit lower this time around – my guard was down. However, I could have set my expectations as high as they could possibly go, and Badu’s performance would have still exceeded them.

I was delighted to see the concert hall pack out very quickly while the support act, Australian soul singer Fantine, put on a performance worthy of setting the scene for the queen of neo-soul.

Assissted by just two other musicians – a guitarist and a man playing on a sole drum – Fantine was given ample space to let her beautiful voice speak for itself. The multi-lingual singer began with ‘Perfect Strangers, ’a song which she recorded with Gorillaz producer Jason Cox – coming across with a very strong start. Next up was single ‘Eleven’ which further proved both her voice and her song writing to the attentive audience.

There was no doubting Fantine’s talent, and while the majority of her set list demonstrated a penchant for great song writing, she did have some duds, closer ‘Rubberoom,’ for example, which just came of as a weak attempt at a catchy pop song.

Unfortunately, Fantine’s pleasant performance was lost amongst the pent up excitement in the air – it was now time for Ms Erykah Badu.

After a delayed intermission, Badu’s band hit the stage and began playing the opening chords of ’20 Feet Tall,’ to which the queen of soul strutted out on stage, displaying rainbow pants, and draped in gold necklaces. The icon began with a goddess-esque pose, one which she would end every song with. As soon as her voice began to take us through the New Amerykah Part Two track, cheers exploded from every corner of the concert hall.

A quick segue into ‘The Healer’ and there were many crowd members throwing their hands up to the sky – as if to thank the heavens for what was in front of their eyes. Badu wasted no time in showing us her roots with the classic, soulful ode to struggling ‘Otherside of the Game.’

A Run DMC sample introduced the quintessential Erykah Badu song, ‘On & On,’ a performance which would encourage everyone to get on their feet and bust out some moves. Not one to be content on ‘just’ performing the song, Erykah interpolated some entertaining crowd interactions throughout the song – pro-longing the pleasure of hearing one of the most critically acclaimed neo-soul tracks of all time.

‘On & On’ led into ‘…& On,’ which segued into ‘Kiss Me On My Neck,’ an anthem which had every female audience members happily singing along. This was overshadowed by an excellent bebop version of Baduizm’s ‘Appletree,’ getting us all back onto our feet shortly after we settled back down.

Obviously planning on going strength-to-strength, the fan-favourite (and my personal favourite) ‘Love of My Life’ was mind-blowing, even more-so when A Tribe Called Quest’s ‘Bonita Applebum’ was cleverly mixed into the beat by the exceptionally talented band.

Completely overwhelmed by this stage, I thought that there wasn’t possibly anything more up Badu’s sleeve, but ‘I Want You’ proved to be the highlight, simply because Erykah and her band produced a screwed up (slowed down) cover of Zapp & Rogers’ ‘More Bounce to the Ounce.’ Being a huge fan of Houston’s screw music scene, I had never expected someone could pull off live instrumental screw music, but the band did, and they did it without any flaws at all. It’s something that was stuck in my mind well after the concert had ended.

After the stunning display of musicianship, Badu took a short break, as Too Short’s ‘Freaky Tales’ filled the stage and some of her band members pulled out some seductive dance moves.

Another fan-favourite made an appearance with ‘Didn’t Cha Know,’ which was a perfectly pleasant performance and gave us a bit of a chance to calm down, with many of us sitting back down – not for long though. Erykah Badu suddenly busted out into ‘Danger,’ a song which give any southern rapper a run for their money – attacking her MPC while the band harmonized as only world-class musicians can.

Erykah left stage before coming back for an encore, which began with the politically-charged ‘Soldier,’ a performance which was obviously very important to her. Badu interpolated a very intense speech/story about the occupy movement, particularly in Mexico – a story which added greatly to the song and extended it into one giant epic.

Low down Loretta Brown wanted to end on a fan favourite, and did so with the popular, Dr Dre- sampling ‘Bag Lady.’ Perfect in every way, neo-souls defining artist allowed her band to go through some excellent solos, which included an amazing harmony by the drummer and Erykah’s MPC – an instrument which she commands like no one I’ve ever seen before.

It was completely overwhelming and entirely satisfying - Erykah Badu put on a performance that was amongst the greatest I’ve seen. The impeccable venue of Sydney Opera House always commands the very best of any artist that is allowed a concert hall performance – Badu is now the finest artist I’ve seen play the prestigious hall. It was something every music lover in Sydney should have witnessed.

Erykah Badu is often referred to as a muse for many hip-hop artists, most notably Andre 3000 of OutKast, It is now very clear just how inspiring her art is.

Set List

20 Feet Tall
The Healer
Otherside of the Game
On & On
...& On
Kiss Me On My Neck
Appletree
Love of my Life
I Want You (w/ cover of More Bounce to the Ounce)
Didn't Cha Know
Danger

Encore

Soldier
Bag Lady