February 23, 2020
Lauryn Hill brought her music uptown last night to the home of spiritual artistry aka United Palace aka Reverend Ike‘s. The line snaked all the way across W175 Street and halfway up Wadsworth Ave as the youngish concert goers awaited the unfortunately now standard routine, a post-Bataclan weapons screening, before being allowed into the theater.
Inside it was a full house and the opening act, DJ Reborn, had the audience on their feet, swaying their hips and jabbing fingers in the air for a good hour or so before Hill and her band got underway. Anybody expecting to catch a nearly exact rendition of Hill’s earlier album work would have instead heard a mature and confident artist playing what she felt like the way she wanted to play it. The fans loved every minute. Hopefully Hill tells her friends about this gem of a venue we’ve got up here and they’ll all come to play at Reverend Ike’s too. It’s celebrating its 90th year in 2020 by the way.
