Photo Credit: Bobbie A
The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige, brought her “Liberation Tour” to Houston, Texas at the Toyota Center on September 2.
Mary has several hits and her fierce discography has always been able to fill venues and bring people to their feet sing her music, and Sunday was no exception. Mary sang songs like hits including “Family Affair”, “Real Love”, and “Be Without You”, which all brought the house praising her years of great music we continue to enjoy.
The “Liberation Tour” started with the introduction of Mary J Blige’s new artist, Starshell (watch her most recent video HERE). Starshell first receive notoriety for co-writing “Love Lockdown” on Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreaks, and now she is opening for Mary and getting ready to release her own album also called Liberation. Starshell proved she is a new budding star as she sang for thousands as the people were still filling in their seats.
Next, Melanie Fiona, also part of the “Liberation Tour,” came out and performed new music from her recent release, The MF Life.
Many of the fans roared with excitement after seeing a sight many have not seen in years – D’Angelo. The Richmond, Virginia crooner had the crowd rocking to an up-tempo jazz infused set, where he slipped in a hot new rendition of “Brown Sugar”. He brought several screams out of some ladies with his song “Cruisin'”, and of course, when D’Angelo hit the piano to play the intro of “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”, he stood up to receive the thunderous applauds and curiosity of whether or not he was going to appease those women with a shirtless performance. However, he sat back down and sang, complete with his shirt on.
One could clearly see a star-powered difference when Mary’s show began, complete with stage lights and a full band. Mary radiated like a living legend to the now sold-out crowd in Houston, Texas. Mary has so many classic songs, and when she started her song “Real Love”, she allowed the crowd to sing about 90 percent of the epic song that first brought her to prominence.
After going into a homage of Old School song like “Outstanding” – with a Mary twist to it – she continued to give the crowd more like “Everything” and “No More Lies”.
Since she was in Houston, Mary gave a shout out to Beyonce and any of her family in the building, and continued on to rock song like “No More Drama”, “Be Happy”, and “You Bring Me Joy”.
With nine Grammys, two decades in the game, and over 50 million albums sold worldwide, there are high expectations, and Mary (and her “Liberation Tour” artists) exceeded all expectations.
Check out dates below for Mary J Blige’s “Liberation Tour”:
Sep. 7- The Pearl Concert Theater @ The Palms Casino Resort – Las Vegas, NV
Sep. 8- Sleep Train Pavillion – Concord, CA
Sep. 9- Gibson Amphitheatre – Universal City, CA
Sep. 13- United Center – Chicago, IL
Sep. 14- DTE Energy Center – Clarkston, MI
Sep. 15- Verizon Wireless Amphitheater – Charlotte, NC