MINT CONDITION

At the Carter Barron Amphitheatre - Washington, DC (8/27/05)

 


 

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.



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