It was a magical Friday night (May, 3rd) for those attending Yahoo! On The Road Presents John Legend. Set at the United Palace Theater with its opulent gold ceilings and velvet curtains, the sitting room only venue couldn’t have been more fitting for this timeless and talented artist’s first performance at this historic spot. Singer-songwriter, Ryan Leslie warmed up the night with an opening that included “Glory” and “Black Mozart.” Shortly after, to the audience’s pleasant surprise, the super soul singer Legend graced the stage, minus his band with only his grand piano and the Salomé Chamber Orchestra by his side. Wearing an all-black tux with a splash of burgundy from his pocket square, the multi-award winning Grammy artist kick-started the evening with a huge shout out to New York City with “Tonight (Best You Ever Had).” With his intimate personality, Legend made the entire audience at this sold-out event feel as though he was singing individually to each and every one of them.
During his one-hour and-15-minute set, Legend performed all-time favorites “Save Room,” “Where Did My Baby Go,” “Again,” “Everybody Knows, ” and “So High.” Legend encouraged the audience to sing the chorus of “Used To Love U” along with him. Highlighting the night, he covered such classics as “Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water” with his signature style mixed with the live string ensemble, making each rendition uniquely his. Giving a sneak-peek into his much-anticipated forthcoming album, Love in the Future, Legend performed the first official single “Who Do We Think We Are,” as well as “Dreams,” “The Beginning,” and a beautiful ballad entitled “All of Me.”
In between sets, hysterical fans screamed, “We love you John” and “I want to have your babies!” Legend stumbled on the first few notes of “Good Morning” before taking it from the top again, making the crowd go even crazier in this moment of unrehearsed truth. “Now it’s time for the verse,” he recovered and ended the song sending the audience into wild applause. Nearing the end of his performance, there were screams for “Green Light” as the crowd clapped their hands to the beat and sang with Legend, “I’m ready to go right now.” Leaving the stage to a standing ovation, Legend came back to a raging crowd asking sincerely for one more song. Audience members broke out their mobile devices and sang along to the hit single “Ordinary People” from his debut platinum album Get Lifted. Legend ended this encore-closer with his final words “God Bless you, have a good night” and blew a huge kiss to everyone there. It was truly “Legend”ary.
-Yanique Bourjolly
