pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

Chali 2Na is a rapper that commands an album.  His deep baritone and unrivaled flow were a staple on Jurassic 5’s albums.  His height and booming voice also command a room.  I’ve seen Chali many times with J5, but for various reasons, I’ve always missed him when he’s brought his solo tour through town.

This show was going to fall into that same trap… until the Michael Jackson-tribute Cirque du Soleil show set for Wednesday, November 16th got canceled and moved to only being on Tuesday the 15th (my review of the Eugene MJ Cirque show here).  “Yay!  I could hit Chali’2 solo show!”  In fact, had the Cirque tickets not been so much, I would have bailed and gone to see Chali anyhow…

What makes Chali so good?  Well, check out the video for “Step Yo Game Up”…

There was a DJ I didn’t catch the name of as an opener, and then tour opener MTHDS went on late (10pm or so).  They were good and got the smallish WOW Hall crowd warmed up.  I was worried that the crowd for Chali 2Na would stay low, but I guess a lot of people were downstairs during the earlier sets as the floor got a little more packed during Chali’s show…

more photos below

Chali hit the stage around 11:15pm with his live band the House of Vibe.  They were a three-piece rock format with “Brew” on keys and vocals… there was also a drummer and bassist (didn’t get their names).  It was a fresh take to see a live band with a rapper… most times I’ve seen rap in a live setting, it’s been to DAT or a DJ.

Setlist: the first hour…

• Unknown
• “Mister DJ”
• Comin’ Thru
• Don’t Stop
• F.O.W. (Fish Outta Water)
• International
• Guns Up
• Welcome to the Fish Market
• Freedom [Jurassic 5]
• Quality Control [J5] w/ MJ “I Want You Back” & “I’ll Be There” (snippets)
• What’s Golden [J5]
• Step Yo’ Game Up
• Righteous Way
• …

I bailed around 12:20am… caught about an hour of Chali’2 set.  Great show, wish it would have started earlier – especially for a Wednesday night.  I loved that he threw in a few Jurassic 5 tunes.  Keyboardist “Brew” sang a few Michael Jackson ditties in the middle of J5’s “Quality Control”… the crowd ate it up!

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Chali 2Na’s Site
• Chali 2Na’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• MTHDS’ Site / Facebook / MySpace / Twitter
• House of Vibe’s Site / Facebook / MySpace / Twitter
• WOW Hall’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Check out more tour dates on Chali’s site HERE.

Next show for me… Over the Rhine @ the Aladdin Theater in Portland tonight (11/17).

~Dan – np: Causing A Tiger – How We Held Our Post

CHALI 2NA PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2011 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

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