The show began on schedule at 9:30 with no opening acts. Kweli took the stage and perused through his catalogue in a brief set which consisted of about ten songs. Much to the delight of the crowd, he performed several tracks from his debut album "Train of Thought," most notably "Move Something," "African Dream" and "Love Language." But the joints that really elicited an impassioned response from the audience were from his more recent offering, "Kwelity." Heads bobbed to the album's lead single "Waiting For the DJ" and acknowledged the depth of "Get By" and "The Proud" by chiming in on infectious choruses. But the climax of Kweli's set came at the end when he renounced the war in Iraq and cursed the Bush administration in witty freestyle, which, of course drew nothing but cheers and applause from the liberal college-aged crowd. Afterwards he quickly departed, leaving most people thirsting for more, but since he only has two solo albums under his belt there wasn't much left to perform. Altogether, his set was good but nothing in comparison to what was to come.
Not long after Kweli's set, Common took the stage and gave a taut hour-and-a-half performance that covered all of the classics from his ten-year career. Fully adorned in the 70s-style thrift shop garments he now sports in lieu of the typical urban hip-hop wear, Common moved the crowd with a vigorous rendition of "Soul Power," a song from his new album "Electric Circus." Then he jumped to a few songs from his first four albums, the best of which were "Invocation" and his underground hit "I Used to Love H.E.R."
Among the many highlights of his set, two of the most entertaining were the instances in which he pulled girls out of the crowd to help him dramatize the lyrics from his #1 singles "The Light" and "Come Close." He also rhymed a heartfelt version of "Love of My Life," the duet he wrote with his fiancee, singer Erykah Badu.
Later, Talib Kweli joined
Common onstage, and together they
invigorated the crowd with a
high-powered performance of "Respiration," from the "Black Star" album. Proving himself to be the consummate master of ceremonies, Common later interrupted his set to breakdance and let his DJ do some mixing and scratching theatrics.
Finally, he closed the show by kicking a five minute freestyle, fraught with clever references to everything from restaurants in Northampton to the Final Four basketball tournament. Needless to say, Common gave an ardent performance which was undoubtedly a reflection of his status as the more seasoned emcee of the two.
As a whole, the Common/Kweli Show ran smoothly and was nothing but fun, unadulterated hip-hop. Though Common had performed a better set, both emcees gave energetic performances that kept the crowd heavily engaged.