At
8:50pm, after an appearance by Julie Dexter and a rap by Cosby's Malcolm-Jamal
Warner, Mint Condition began with a song called "Sista" (from the new
album, LIVING THE LUXURY BROWN) featuring some good piano keys by Larry
Waddell. Following that was a ballad that got most of the ladies
hot-n-sweaty....a song called "So Fine"....O'Dell ripped up the joint
with a fiery lead guitar solo! (Truthfully, Mint Condition is a prime
example of a GREAT LIVE BAND....the studio recordings are wonderful, but the
live stuff is definitely miles ahead!!! These guys play with a LOT of energy
and some funk, even with the ballads!!) After a song featuring Stokley's
lead vocal acrobatics, it was on to "You Don't have to Hurt No More",
which featured some heavy, powerful drumming by Terry (that guy brought the
house down), passionate lead vocal stylings by Stokley, and some hot lead
guitarisms! The next song was a funk-workout with some lead guitarisms by
Stokley and O'Dell & meaty bass by Ricky Kinchen! Devotion/Someone to
Love" and "U Send Me Swingin' " were followed by "Forever
in Your Eyes". "Mary Jane" was a funky tribute to the late Rick
James and the next song "It's Hard" featured a chant in the beginning
that was reminiscent of the one in "10 Million Strong". "It's
Hard" also featured some ferocious O'Dell lead guitarisms! "Breakin'
My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)" was done in a faster tempo on drums
(sometimes with some thunderous drumbeats)...the most memorable part was the
way that the band stopped midway for a minute before Stokley cut loose in his
high-pitch scream ("Quit breakin' my heart!") and the band went back
into the song! Stokley and Terry did a tremendous drum solo and the following
song was a jazzy tune that featured Jeffrey Allen on saxophone. After the song
"What Kind of Man Would I Be?", Larry played some spacy keyboard
riffs on the next song, which also featured some wah-wah rhythm guitarisms by
O'Dell! The encore featured O'Dell on some super funky rhythm guitarisms,
Stokley singing a little bit of "Are You Free" and some good keyboard
riffs by Jeffrey and Larry! Stokley had the fans doing a lot of
call-and-response participation. The show was over at 10:30am.
Submit suggestions or comments to david.brooks@brookenstein.com