Being asked about spare tickets a full two hours before a show is always a good sign, and Alicia Keys more than lived up to the omen Saturday at the Hard Rock.
Fresh off four Grammy wins, Keys is on the road in support of her new album, Diary of Alicia Keys. The Uptown Saturday Night tour's conceit is that we've been transported back in time to 1931 with her saxophonist, Buford "Sugarfoot" Watson (a.k.a. Dave Watson) playing the part of Cab Calloway in white suit and black bow tie. Before the curtain rises, Watson announced to the sold-out crowd of 1,500 that they tried to contact Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne and Billie Holiday but none could make it so they've got a young lady named Alicia Keys. When the curtain went up, a huge poster was revealed, with Keys as Holiday, gardenia and all.
It's a huge full-length glove to throw down, but it's to Keys' credit that by the end of the night, that unclaimed crown of Holiday's was within reach.
Keys entered to thunderous applause and screams of love and adoration, dressed in a flapper-inspired white outfit, her black locks held back with a wide white headband with ostrich feathers. Kicking the show off to a high-energy start, Keys took center stage, launching into a juiced-up version of "Jane Doe" from her first album, Songs In a Minor, delivering a mix of jazz and rap beats and rhythms as her five-piece band blew the roof off.
With an assuredness that never became haughty, the 24-year-old tore through several more songs before collapsing in mock exhaustion on a red settee, as two of her three backup singers fanned her. It wasn't until Keys arose and made her way to the black grand piano that the crowd finally took their seats, though the yelling, clapping, whistling and marriage proposals continued, intensifying when Keys introduced a jazzed-up "A Woman's Worth" by asking if there were any "real, strong, respectful men" in the house.
The mix of classic jazz and modern R&B ran throughout the next hour, with Keys making good use of the Joint's small stage. The energy level was up and down but the crowd seemed rapt, except perhaps when the band performed an instrumental version of "Summertime" while Keys changed into a full-length black gown, flapper hat, long gloves and boa. The concert's only odd note came during "You Don't Know My Name," when a cart with an old-fashioned phone was wheeled out so Keys could enact the song's dialogue, revamped for the 1930s.
Compared to some of the mistakes Holiday made in her life, it's a trifle.