Of all the romantic possibilities on Valentine’s Day this year, there was one event that was difficult to compete with, providing an arousing atmosphere and setting the mood to end the day right.
Robin Thicke, the 31 year old singer-songwriter and ladies man, performed at the KMEL House of Soul, held at the Warfield in downtown San Francisco, leaving a hall full of women with drool around their made-up lips. With an undeniably sexy voice and wide array of explicit body movements, Thicke carried the show from beginning to end, not once losing tempo or intention.
I’m not one for a spotlight, but I have to admit, there were moments I wished I was the one on stage.
Opening the show was Raashan Ahmad, a relatively unknown hip-hop artist out of Oakland, providing some underground flare by delivering original flows over revamped classic tunes from various genres. He was joined by a funk guitarist and a live drummer, both of whom helped highlight Ahmad’s somewhat eccentric style. Unfortunately, the vocals were pretty muddy, so at times it was difficult to make out his words.
After a short intermission and several minutes of watching techies trying to act important, flipping switches and plugging plugs, a golden microphone was placed on center stage and the lights dimmed. A band of 6 emerged and went to work on a jazzy riff. A lively Thicke, decked in black designer ware, immediately went to work, opening his segment with his popular songs “Wanna Love U Girl” and “Magic,” accented well by the 3 brass players.
Despite Thicke’s awesome vocals and heavy swagger, nothing was very appealing to me about his drenched shirt and the stream of sweat dripping down his arm and off his elbow for the first ten minutes. None of the women seemed to mind it very much. Anyway, all was repaired when Thicke disappeared backstage allowing the band to introduce itself, and reappeared with a sparkling, crisp, dry shirt; the same one, in fact.
As the show continued, Thicke went back and forth from performing lively songs with the band to going solo, accompanying himself on the piano for a slow jam here or there. Occasionally the keyboardist would perform a flow for songs that Thicke recorded with hip-hop artist Lil’ Wayne, like the catchy tune “Shooter.” Regardless of whether Thicke was by himself or with his band, he always brought the right energy for the specific song and stayed focused, even when he forgot a few of the words to a song he was covering. He admitted, with a huge smile on his face, that he had just learned the words backstage before the show.
The most memorable part of the show was the few minutes preceding his performance of “teach u a lesson,” a song that uses a teacher-student relationship as a metaphor for certain sexual conquests. Thicke took his time making orgasmic faces and soft moans while gently caressing his microphone stand. After each utterance, a collective shriek would be reciprocated from the women in the audience. This interaction went on for quite some time and I got a huge kick out of it.
The audience was a pretty mixed crowd, featuring all different ages, races and styles. While it was a V-Day concert and there were many couples cupcaking the whole time, there was also a good number of singles. Standing but a few feet away from me were two manly looking guys who knew the words to every single song, and so I enjoyed watching them from time to time.
Robin Thicke is a man who knows how to use his voice and how to perform, and it’s important to do both well if you’re a singer. For those who missed this great performance, KMEL is having an encore presentation coming up soon, so make sure to grab tickets for that. I guarantee you it’ll be a performance you won’t want to miss.
