Toni Toni Toni!!
(I know I’ve been gone for a minute, but so has Missy Elliott, and you’d welcome her back with open arms, so why not me?)
Last week, I went to HoodLove Fest 2010, otherwise known as the free Toni Braxton concert in a high school football feild in Brooklyn (you can’t make that up). Despite loving Toni for almost two decades, I went in expecting… well, not the worst, but nothing to blog about. And you gotta give the girl credit, cos despite filling for bankruptcy (twice! Really girl, you can’t handle a few paychecks?!?), Toni has never really left the game, she has just been playing in little league. She sounded amazing, as most singers loose their higher range as they age, Toni, with her low, husky voice, is only getting better. And best of all, the show was not a “I’m going to bore you with new material until we get to ‘Another Sad Love Song,’” Toni did all the hits (some had new musical arrangements that were a bit…odd, but how often can you hear “You’re Making Me High” live?) ! She opened with “He Wasn’t Man Enough,” and from that first “Darkchild, Toni Braxton” into (well, she didnt say it, but let’s think she did), I knew it was going to be the world’s greatest concert… or something.
And it was, minus the abesnce of one her better, post- “Un-break my Heart,” songs, the very good, “Please” from 2005. Produced by the only sometimes amazing Scott Storch, this song has the best stripper beat not made by Lil’ Jon ever! I guess she didn’t do it because it wasn’t a very big hit, but either was “Hands Tied” and she sang that too…
