Janelle Monae Prospect Park Bandshell NYC Performance: Review From Behind The Fence
Janelle Monae kicked off the 36th season of Celebrate Brooklyn!, a series of (mostly free) summer events for locals to enjoy outdoors. Janelle Monae performed at Prospect Park Bandshell to a crowd of thousands of fans enjoying the cool summer night. Here's a review of Janelle Monae's Prospect Park Bandshell NYC performance - from behind the fence.
Janelle Monae was reportedly brought on stage in a straitjacket - but I'm not going to pretend I saw that. The gates for the event opened at 6:30, while the performance started at 8pm. I arrived just before her performance started, only to find myself waiting behind a thousand people for a show that was already underway.
An elderly gentleman who showed up after me asked the spunky woman holding a sign that read "END OF THE LINE" if she thought he was getting in. She nodded, but as he turned away, she shook her head violently and laughed with us.
Foregoing the line, I decided to try my luck with the devoted fans who were hoping to catch a glimpse of Janelle Monae's Prospect Park Bandshell NYC performance from behind the fence of the event. Thousands more people to maneuver through, including the occasional policeman and cloud of marijuana smoke, until I found an elevated spot on a hill where I could peer through the chain-link fence. Every once in a while (when a short person would move in front of me), I caught a flash of white on the huge stage - Janelle Monae helpfully wore an all-white outfit. Then a six-foot-five basketball player would move in front of me and all was blocked.
A rowdy bunch behind me sipping from beer cans wrapped in black bags termed this movement "sasquatch-ing."
The aesthetic of the set (or what I could see of it) had a clinically-clean, mod-like aesthetic with the back-up singers dressed in black and white stripes. Monae made me feel like I was trying to peek a glance at a spaceship that had landed in Prospect Park, complete with flashing lights and bumping beats.
Monae is the "Q.U.E.E.N" of giving a fun show, and she didn't disappoint with her funky dance moves and uninhibited enthusiasm. All of this was surprising, considering the singer just cancelled her Australasian tour with the "Somebody That I Used To Know" singer Kimbra due to falling ill. Janelle's May tour dates scheduled for Brisbane, Auckland and Melbourne were all cancelled.
I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't hear Janelle's voice crack a few times or notice that she was being extra cautious when singing some higher and louder notes. But overall, she did her best - and got even the most awkward white boy in the audience moving in his New Balances.
Here's what fans on Twitter had to say about Janelle Monae's Prospect Park performance:
Prospect park was a dead zone last night so I couldn't share that @JanelleMonae commanded that stage! Gave me chills! pic.twitter.com/Nxr4lk1LHq
— Someone, Somewhere (@CapobiaNB) June 5, 2014
Janelle Monae hands down is one of the best female artist of our time. Her performance at Prospect Park was flawless! — Willie Fulmore III (@HighLightsTShrt) June 5, 2014
Janelle Monae in Prospect Park. Free show. Whole borough is here. @ Prospect Park Bandshell https://t.co/JDwF0eIARY
— Alissa Wilkinson (@alissamarie) June 4, 2014
Here is Janelle Monae's full setlist for her Prospect Park Bandshell performance, via The Village Voice:
Suite IV Electric Overture
Givin Em What They Love
Dance Apocalyptic
Sincerely, Jane
Q.U.E.E.N.
Electric Lady
Victory
Ghetto Woman
Jackson 5 Medley: I Want You Back & ABC
Cold War
Tightrope
Encore:
Primetime
Let's Go Crazy [Prince cover]
Come Alive
What An Experience