Isaac Hayes at the Hollywood Bowl

It was billed as Stax' 50 years anniversary, but basically we came to see Isaac Hayes perform. Angie Stone was there and belted a few, that was cool. Booker T. walked us down memory lane with an infectious rendition of Green Onion. The lukewarm William Bell sang a few tunes, doing a competent impression of David Alan Grier's brother with no soul in Amazon Women on the Moon...

Then, after an intermission, the Black Moses himself walked onto the stage in a big shimmering black and gold boubou. He started his set with Walk On By, sort of tight - although the mix was horrible at first. Then he managed to assassinate I Say a Little Prayer with one of the backing singers, mashing it with By the Time I Get to Phoenix. Yes. He sort of mumbled through the Phoenix chorus while the white chick unwittingly deconstructed Prayer. There was another duet with another one of the singers, but by that time he had kind of lost me (I guess the wine and the wacky tabacchi helped too.) He finished that 20-25 minutes with - what else? - Shaft. But a lackluster, slurred and uninspired Shaft. He stood up and kind of conducted the house band in a very tentative way. Thank god theses guys are the pro-est of pros and could stay in time, in tune and deep in the groove forever.

Then the whole Stax crew reunited and sang Dock of the Bay and that was it. Lights out onstage. Kind of a sorry affair. One of my friends mentioned quite justly that Isaac Hayes had sang all but 5 minutes or so. Although it seems that live performance was never Isaac Hayes strong suit, we felt somewhat disrespected.

[The music, so precise, so produced, is definitely studio music. I was wondering what Isaac Hayes would sound like with just piano, congas and a few vocal overdubs (like, say, Marvin Gaye's I Want You vocal and rhythm outtake on the deluxe re-issued album...Probably, the most awesome performance by Marvin, even tops Anger on Hear, My Dear. 99c of incredible soul on iTunes...)]

The performance could have been a notch better but hey, it was another utopian night in the Hollywood hills. Wine, cheese and good company under the starry skies... This is why I moved to LA (as the song goes...)

ps: oh yeah and that absolute crétin Randy Jackson (of Idol infamy) mc'eed the whole proceedings like a cheery Ronco infomercial, as if trying to oversell the performance, and whip up the crowd - you set it and you fo'get it... This is great and wholesome when applied to all the hilarious implements that come out of Ron Popeil's fertile mind, but for Memphis soul...


Fuckin Genius.