Getting Intimate with Kem

I'm just getting in from the Intimacy tour starring Kem! Lamone w/Pieces of a Dream were the opening act. Lamone came out on stage and was dapper and ready to give it to us straight-no chaser, he sang a few of his orginal tracks and then covered Maxwell as well as a few others. He did an amazing job. Pieces of a Dream did their thing on stage as well. The guitarist was making the songs cry with his amazingly gifted fingerplay. The keyboardist, bass and drummer all brought a solk sound that reverberated throughout the theatre and welcomed us with the beginings of something beautiful...speaking of Beautiful, Noel Gourdin came on stage and made the soul community proud! He sang caressed every note with his sweet sounding brand on honey dipped soul. Songs like "Beautiful" and "The River" and a very seductive, sexy performance of his song, "Summertime". The temperature got up to about 110 degrees in the building...great performance.

Then, what we had been all waiting for; Kem came out and did a 80 minute set, that was nothing short of remarkable. He took us on a tour of his vaious albums,started off with a song off of his Intimacy Album III, "On My Mind", which got the party started. Then he went right into "Brotha Man" off of his debut album, Kemistry and then preached the word and gave us the meaning of "True Love", which featured a mean saxophone solo that had the crowd wanting more of this intimate moment. Kem did his thing on the stage, jyrating and moving to the music so fluid, having fun with the audience. He even caught a woman recording him, ( I guess the red light gave it away), he took her phone and starting singing directly into the camera, dancing and making some love faces into her phone...talking about the ultimate intimate protrayal of Kem. I bet she will be sleeping with that phone tucked right next to her tonight, sorry Youtube, no upclose and personal video will be uploaded tonight! Moving on...Kem mentioned his two lovely daughters and talked about raising them upright in this day and age. He spoke about what he wants for them and what they should expect out of life from a man to standing on their own two. (women's empowerment session) My favorite part was when he spoke on what they should look for in a man with a FICO score of 800 or better, I agree ladies, but he also stated that his girls should also have a FICO score of the same...meaning Ladies, don't jsut do looking for a man that has better, but make sure you can bring it to!!!Then he went into "Golden Days" featuring my girl, L'Renee. She graced the stage with a fiery spoken word performance and then went into this strong melodic frenzy that had the crowd saying, "Who is this chic?" and "when is her album coming out?" Please note L' has several albums out and TE has the article to prove it!!!. OK, back to the show...Kem reminisced about an ex, the women that showed him the meaning of true love. He spoke about how he messed that relationship up and we all could relate to doing things a little differently, if we knew then what we know now, feel me? Well, I felt him as him went into "Love Never Fails", a song that was inspired by that past relationship. He felt through that song as he was reliving that moment in time. "Share My Life" at this point, I wasn ready to jump out of my seat.Kem had won me over and I could barely contain my excitement, it was a mix of joy, happiness, rhythum and soul just colliding inside and ready to conbust. Then the sweet poetic melodies of his lastest track, "If It's Love" ft. Maurissa Rose was served to us as a hot entry. Maurissa sang and they meshed so well, like the track was playing and they were just moving to the song together.

A Question was brewing in his thought process as he took a moment, and with a caress of the keys, he began to play the notes leading into the hottest song of the year, "Why Would You Stay" which landed at #19 on the billboard charts. He then mellowed us out a little, with "Find Your Way, (Back in My Life.) Kem proceeded to give a heart-felt testimony about how he once was homeless and on drugs...he's been through some hard knocks in his life, but God....He is the reason, we have such an anointed and gifted artist, singer, songwriter, producer and musician in Kem!!! He took time out to give God his glory as we all rose to our feet to give thanks for all that we have and all that we are. I don't know about you, but I am truly grateful...being able to experience one's soul salvation as it is being laid out before me as this man had...there are no words that could explain that feeling inside. 30 minutes left and Kem continues to guide us through this Love fest with Think About Us" & "Love Calls". There were many special pieces to this show, a few surpises and impromptu moments. He even had a young man stand up, after asking if he loved his lady. He said, "Yea". Kem asked, "would you do anything for her?" He replied, "yea". Anything? Tea! Anything???? OK, OK you get the just of where this was going. Kem had the man sing chorus to Love Calls. The man couldn't sing, but he got an A for effort (of couse his lady was sitting there next to him, half embarrassed,) but the twist was that Kem promised them that when they did eventually get married, he would sing at their wedding. The crowd went bananas to find out that they were actually engaged. OK Kem, I guess you'll have to show up a little sooner to that engagement than planned and I'll be expecting my invite to that!!! The whole night was exactly how it was planned to be. "A Night to Remember" and for me, "The night that I was intimate with Kem"...he ended his set or so we thought to a standing ovation and call for an oncour. They all returned to the set to fulfill that gratitude of "hell no, we won't go"....welll not just yet. Kem performed a song dedicated to his mother and all mothers for that matter, since our day is right around the corner. He sung the song with such passion. I knew that he had an undying love for his dear mother. As he sung pictues of many celebrities and their moms, such as Usher and his mom, Kayne and his (God rest her soul) and even BIG and his, all flashed behind him. The concert was well attended and well received!!! Great Job to all that played a role in this concert at the Bushnell in Hartford, CT...and if you haven't already done so, make sure you catch Kem on his Intimacy Tour coming to a city near you!!!

SOUL in the City signing off for the night...God Bless!

Mara