The head wrap was back.
Elegant as ever, Erykah Badu topped an all-female lineup during Tuesday’s “Sugar Water Festival” at Coors Amphitheatre, a show launched by Floetry’s spoken-word soul and capped by three headliners together on stage for a funky 15-minute scat session.
Badu fans would have been justified in feeling skeptical about this appearance. Smart and eclectic, the performer secured her place among pop’s upper echelon with her 1997 debut but has not been particularly prolific in the years since.
She proved Tuesday that her live show remains one of most tasteful around. Mirrored panels reflected the multiple instruments, players and singers who joined Badu for a set that danced between jazz, funk, spoken word and hip-hop. Badu’s personalized narrative during “Back in the Day (Puff)” was as theatrical as it was musical. And that is the approach fans expect. Badu further appeased them by interlacing songs like “Woo” with soul classics such as The Mary Jane Girls’ “All Night Long.”
Earlier, screens behind the stage flickered night sky graphics as Jill Scott opened her set with a jazzy, paced take on “Golden.” The Philadelphia crooner took her time with each track during the gig. Scott was conversant and easygoing, qualities that translate to her CDs. And while she clearly felt the audience’s love during “Whatever,” “Cross My Mind” and “Long Walk,” Scott also imparted this wisdom: “It takes time to be a diva. Patti LaBelle, Ella Fitzgerald … I’m only five years into it.”
Queen Latifah stepped to the stage in the No.2 slot with a full band that included two percussionists, two keyboards, backup singers and several multi-instrumentalists. The woman famous for her turns in film, TV and music interlaced her act with the rhymes that made her famous and the jazz covers she recorded last year.
She looked cowgirl casual in tight jeans and a straw fedora as she opened with “Ladies First” before going quickly to her take on the Dinah Washington/Billie Holiday standard, “Baby Get Lost.”
Latifah has real charisma and a strong voice. Who else could tackle material from the Great American Songbook while her people hawked her new Curvation plus-size bra line (available soon at a Wal-Mart or Kmart near you!) in the concession area? But covers work only when the artist furthers the song; Latifah didn’t always do that, most notably during her rendition of “California Dreamin”‘ by The Mamas and the Papas.
The Queen’s hip-hop carried the most weight with this crowd. But all four acts charmed an already adoring audience in what is arguably the area’s least comfortable venue, thanks to a puritanical curfew, heavy-handed security and an awkward layout.
Staff writer Elana Ashanti Jefferson can be reached at 303-820-1957 or ejefferson@denverpost.com.
