Photo credits: Nadine Steaman (@Nadream70)

Like really long-time readers of The Kitchen (are there any still out there??), know I’ve long been a fan of of the former, Mrs. Nasir Jones, Kelis. So I was super happy when she recently came to town, thanks to the good people at my day hustle, Embrace. Have to say though that the show was a mixed experience overall.

While Kelis sounded pretty good vocally (she hits some notes I didn’t think she was really capable of tbh), she talked a lot (too much at times) in between songs and the overall sound was spotty at the beginning and for much of the first half you could barely hear her in the mix over her live band and almost to the very end, her backup vocalist couldn’t be heard at all. She, naturally, leaned heavily on material from her latest album, Food (see the video of her performance of “Jerk Ribs” and “Rumble” from the album above) which was fairly well-received by the audience but I got the sense most of them would have been fine hearing the tried and true hits off Kaleidoscope, Wanderland, Tasty and Kelis Was Here (or maybe that’s just me). And no “Caught Out There” at all?? I know that song was a bit gimmicky when it came out, but I can’t be the only one who still wanted to hear that anyway??