Miseducation

After getting fed up waiting for the three-hour late Ms Hill, one could be forgiven for approaching security at the Music Hall of Williamsburg to ask who we could talk to about a refund.  A near smack-up almost ensued with a very large man; luckily his door-colleague stepping in to save us and we were assured that Ms. Hill was "in the building" and begrudgingly returned inside.  When she finally arrived onstage to a chorus of boos from the 300-strong audience (a quarter of whom had already left) Ms Hill, the patron saint of my singing youth, was unremarkable in her appearance onstage (complete in African coloured mu-mu, possibly with a pillow sewn into the back - hard to say).  Her first song, a Bob Marley cover, gave me a suspicious pause with its lacking vocals and vibe.  But we stayed the course and were indeed rewarded.

Ms Hill made up for her tardiness with a string of hits from her post-Fugee solo album, "The Miseducation....of Lauryn Hill" and rocked out a number of Fugee songs that made you remember that before the Peas, there were the Fugees.  Looking around the crowd of diehard fans, one could see the euphoria on their faces.  It was hard not to feel cleansed by her rich, smoky timbre (albeit a little raspy); like a familiar old friend the lyrics to "When it hurts so bad", "Ex-factor" and "To Zion" flowed fast and quick.  When she sung "To Zion" it was hard not to romanticize the young boy on the second level of the music hall who rested his head on his hands and looked in awe at Ms Hill, as Zion.  Though surely too young, it was a nice thought.  An even nicer thought was the rumour that Prince was also up there on second level listening to the reclusive singer.

With those final words, "Brooklyn thank you for your patience, thank you for your support; it's so good to see you again" and after a string of her solo and Fugee hits she had won her over with her words, with her voice - that rich, silky yet throaty voice that shakes a heart when she sings up the octave or changes key; that melts a heart to its knees.  And she finally delivered with her two biggest commercial hits: "Killing me softly" and "Doo-wop (That thing)".

Oh Lauryn, with your 3h lateness, but the magic emanating from the stage - never have the words in Ex-factor been so true: "...it could all be so simple but you'd rather make it hard...loving you is like a battle..."