John Legend made the Kauffman Center into a living room performance, sort of

In the 10 years since the release of Get Lifted, John Legend’s debut album, the deeply talented pianist and singer has won nine Grammy awards, and has worked with some of the top names in the music business, including Kanye West (whose album imprint GOOD released Get Lifted), Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill, the Roots, Dialated Peoples and Alicia Keys, among many others. But with all that success, he’d never had a #1 single – that is, until yesterday, when “All of Me” hit the top of the charts. 

The audience at last night’s sold-out Kauffman Center performance got to learn a lot more about the singer, his background, his early start in music and even about his songwriting process for “An Evening with John Legend.”

The show began just after 7 p.m., with no opening act. A string quartet, lit only with a spotlight, played a short introduction before Legend, lit from the back, emerged on to the stage. The stage set-up was casual, inspired perhaps by shows like VH1 Storytellers or MTV Unplugged, with couches lining the back of the stage. A handful of people were selected to enjoy the show from the couches, and Legend joked with them as the show began: “Who do you know?”

Throughout the evening, Legend engaged in the Storytellers-style format, explaining that he wanted the venue to feel like he was performing in his living room. “A very, very nice living room,” he joked. He softly played piano while giving background on the songs he was performing or telling the audience about how his career began.

After performing “Maxine,” he told the story about how he came to choose the name for the fictional song, noting that he was looking for something two syllables, and classic and old fashioned-sounding. His grandmother’s middle name, unbeknownst to him, was Maxine, and she loved the shoutout (real or not), despite that the character in the song is a sort of villainous two-timer. Legend also explained that the song was inspired by Nancy Wilson’s “Guess Who I Saw Today” which tells the story of a woman, enjoying a drink by herself at a restaurant. She sees a couple, deeply in love, and watches them. The song’s kick is at the end she realizes that the man in the couple is her lover. Guess who I saw today, the lyric goes. It was you.

A highlight of the two-hour (almost to the minute) show was a performance of Legend’s cover of “Dancing in the Dark,” which Legend originally performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon during a Bruce Springsteen tribute week. Legend explained that he had been hoping to hear after the TV performance whether Bruce liked it or not, but no word from the Boss ever came. A year later, Springsteen wrote Legend a personal letter asking him to perform the song at a charity event. “Phew,” said Legend.

Legend is not really breaking any new ground with his songwriting, but impresses with his silky voice and prodigious talent on the piano, which is every big as strong as his albums and television performances indicate. The setlist featured songs from each of his five studio albums, but principally his 2013 release, “Love in the Future.” His jazz and R&B influences are apparent, particularly in the live performances, arranged by Legend’s guitar player. The arrangements were typically very mellow and suited to the “living room” (which very much did not feel like a living room) environment that Legend was going for.

That mellowness did have an effect on the audience, which, while being supportive and seemingly happy to be there, could not seem to muster the energy for robust sing-alongs, which Legend frequently called for. You could hear a few people, but as Legend kept saying “You sound so good, KC” he was clearly just being kind. KC, you could barely be heard, even with Helzberg’s amazing acoustics. It also wasn’t necessarily helpful that the audience members onstage usually looked bored. Two women were slumped over their couches – they at least felt like they were in their living rooms.

[page]The highest point of the evening, though, came in another cover: “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” which he dedicated to his grandmother, the church organist in the Pentecostal church at which his grandfather was the preacher, and in which his mother was the choir leader and his father the drummer in the church band.It was his grandmother that taught him to play piano. While she passed away when he was only 10 years old, he explained that it was her that deserved credit for his musical successes: “When  you hear me playing, you’re really hearing her,” he said. And the song – it may be a Simon and Garfunkel composition,  but after witnessing Legend take it on, in my opinion it now belongs to him. He extended and lengthened the phrasing leading up to the big, throaty choruses, and then quickly drew the volume back for I will lay me down. It might have made my eyes water just a little. 

Other highlights included “Green Light,” and “You and I,” which prompted another story about his family. He explained, “My father was an auto factory worker. He rarely got the chance to take my mother out to dinner, but when he did, he said ‘Baby, we’re going out to Red Lobster tonight.’ My father taught me how to be a gentleman. He taught me to the way to a woman’s heart – lobster and shrimp.” He shouted out all of those out on a date for the night. “You might get lucky,” he explained. He walked over to a couple sitting on one of the couches onstage. After asking of they were married (they were not), he asked how long they had been dating.

“Three weeks,” the man replied. 

“Three weeks?! Three weeks and you’re at a John Legend concert?” Brave indeed.

Nearing the end of the show, Legend’s piano work at the end of “So High” stood out for its elegant trills and Legend’s ability to make that difficult work appear effortless. He closed his set with “Ordinary People,” and the performance ended with the audience giving him a standing ovation. He returned shortly after for one more song, “All of Me.”

“It is number one as of today,” Legend said. The audience swooned. 

Setlist (approximate, please add changes to the comments section)

Made to Love
Tonight (Best You Ever Had)
Let’s Get Lifted
Used to Love U
Stay With You
Maxine
Again
Where Did My Baby Go
Save Room
Dancing in the Dark (Bruce Springsteen)
Green Light
Good Morning
Everybody Knows
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
You & I (Nobody in the World)
Who Do We Think We Are
Caught Up
So High
Ordinary People
___
All Of Me