The Ms. Lauryn Hill Experience

Part of the Lauryn Hill experience is waiting. Waiting for Ms. Hill is a little like waiting for Godot, although your companions are better dressed, there's some good music playing, and you can get a beer if you want to. And eventually, she does show up.

The doors opened at 7 and DJ Rich Medina started spinning tunes at 9. Warm 70's grooves gave way to remakes of warm 70's grooves and then some disco and hip-hop. The DJ started to pack up around 9:45, lights started flashing and the crowd started to cheer. Then he went back to playing tunes. Finally, at 10, he gave up the spotlight to........another DJ.  Lauryn Hill's man, DJ Rampage, played some harder beats, shouted out to  "New Jersey," and got the fans to wave their hands. The atmosphere brightened as the air became......aromatic.

Around 11:30, a group of a dozen or so young kids gathered behind the amps and had their own little dance party. Then, the arrival of midnight was followed by the arrival of some band members. By 12:15 the band was jamming with the DJ and the sold-out house was more than ready.  

Ms. Hill finally arrives to a roar of approval and tells the crowd how happy she is to be performing in her "backyard". She shouts out to Montclair, Maplewood, and South Orange, where she grew up and now resides. Then she tears into a frenetic version of "Forever Loving Jah", a bit like a hyperactive James Brown.

She's putting everything she's got into it and so is the band. And it's quite a band: Three keyboards, three backup singers, two guitars, two basses, a drummer and the aforementioned DJ. By the second song, the band threatened to overwhelm the singer, who was in fine voice.

By now it's getting close to 1 a.m. and some of the "less nocturnal" concertgoers are starting to leave. The rest are cheering and waiting to see which of their favorite Fugees songs will be rearranged and if she has anything new to share. How did it all turn out? Honestly, I just couldn't wait to find out.