Throngs of enthralled females weren’t the only ones in attendance at Musiq Soulchild’s concert at Atlanta’s Centerstage. The musical spirits of Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Patti LaBelle , Billy Holiday and Sly and the Family Stone swirled through the captivated sold-out crowd that packed the auditorium, the aisles, the entrance, the seats and the floor in front the stage.
The Philadelphia native born Taalib Johnson, 32, more than lived up to his musical moniker as raced through the beloved cuts that earned him two platinum and two gold CDs and a score of Grammy nominations. The silky smooth crooner, dressed in an all-cream suit, sans the jacket, had the rapt crowd right where he wanted them when the chords for “Love” spilled out of the speakers midway through the concert. In an almost ceremonial bow, Musiq simply stood on stage and smiled, bathing in the crowd’s adulation as they sang most of “Love,” the blockbuster single that spent 22 weeks on the Billboard charts and cemented Musiq’s legacy in the R&B community.
The musical odyssey that Musiq took his fans on, including thrilling stops through 2000’s Aijuswanaseing, 2002’s Juslisen, all the way through his fifth CD OnMyRadio, left his fans exhilarated and emotionally spent. Musiq use of his commanding stage presence to direct the crowd like an orchestra conductor, recalls the legendary predecessors he so often pays tribute to. –terry shropshire
