So - no photography whatsoever was allowed inside the Carolina Theater, so here's a ticket to a very strange evening of concert. Let's forget Joan Osborne, who as we all know had one catchy hit back in 1995 (which I associate with being played endlessly in South Africa when I was there that year - it was coming out of a cafe, or a store, in a street in some small town when I was waiting for a jeep to pick me up to take me to a sanctuary where I got to pet cheetahs. Who purred. But I digress). Mavis Staples, however - had big-time presence; less voice; a great ability to laugh at herself and the world (but hey - I associate her with a political tradition - given what the world is actually like, right now, mightn't one have hoped for something a little more wide reaching than her enjoyment of collard greens and cornbread? Or indeed, for a more interesting and pertinent warm-up act than JO (though she did have Vicki Randle as a percussionist, who had great presence). However - terrific to hear someone who is a legend, albeit, well, maybe, I wish I'd heard her forty years ago, too.
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