Mary J. Blige sermonizes at the Dodge
By THOMAS BOND
Get Out
May 5, 2004

They call Mary J. Blige “the queen of hip hop soul,” but “high priestess” might be a better choice of words. The singer sermonized — in song and spoken word — on self worth and female empowerment for an appreciative audience at the Dodge Theatre Wednesday night, but it may have come at the expense of entertainment value.

“It's like going to church,” said Melissa Eads, 28, of Tempe. “I can't help but cry when she belts out so much passion and raw energy.”

Following a video intro of Blige in a record company boardroom being assaulted on all sides about the money aspect of the music business, she counters that it's all about “the fans” and storms out of the room to an elevator. It descends and after the counter checked down the floor numbers from 10 to one, Blige made her onstage entrance in olive slacks and a matching midriff-baring top.

With a troupe of male and female dancers matching her moves, Mary opened with a long medley of uptempo hits including “Real Love,” “You Remind Me” and “Love Without Limits.”

Following the departure of the dancers and a change to an all-black outfit, Blige sat on a stool centerstage and set the mood for the rest of the show belting out the ballad “Children of the Ghetto.”

Echoing the song's positive message of “you gotta keep your head up,” Blige explained that she was a child of the ghetto herself and was “still standing after all I've been through.” She then detailed the years of trauma caused by her father abandoning her and her mother when Blige was just four years of age. She then pleaded with fathers to care for their daughters whether they're still together with their children's mothers or not.

From there the show alternated between inspirational slow songs and pep talks to the women in the audience. While the sentiments were obviously heartfelt, the energy level of the show seriously sagged and most of the sparse crowd of approximately 2,000 that had once been standing sat down and remained seated until the encore. A few uptempo numbers mixed in with the “message” material would have simultaneously ratcheted up the fun and toned down the preachiness quotient of the night.

Wisely, Blige picked up the pace and brought back the dancers to finish the show. For the encore, Mary came out in an all-white ensemble singing her anthem “No More Drama.” She followed it with a nod to her new album, performing “Let Me Be the 1” (duetting with 50 Cent on the video screen) and “Love at 1st Sight.”
Telling the assembled that “There is no Mary J. Blige without y'all,” the singer closed with a hip hop-styled take on the Stylistics’ soul classic “You Are Everything.”