What Happened to Lauryn Hill?

Mandy @ Gone Hollywood | Saturday, June 30, 2007

I didn’t realize Lauryn Hill was still making a musical go of it. I guess this is the reason why. Last Wednesday, Hill took the stage to a sold-out show at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre and mixed unfamiliar material with hits from the past that were “rendered unrecognizable by radical new arrangements and a blaring, poorly balanced sound mix.”

Aural audience response was divided between cheers and boos. Others sat and stood in silence, their mouths agape at what they were hearing and seeing.

Her hair in an unkempt rust-colored Afro, Hill wore a green-and-yellow plaid jacket that appeared to be made of wool and an ankle-length black skirt, looking not unlike a bag lady one might encounter at a taco truck on International Boulevard. She held a microphone in her right hand and a black handkerchief in her left, frequently wiping sweat from her face as she paced the stage.

At one point during the show, the singer tripped and fell, landing flat on her backside. “That’s what I get for wearing high heels,” she said as she rose to her feet.

Some concert goers, who paid almost $90.00 per ticket, were requesting refunds before she took the stage two hours and 15 minutes late. Others left during her first song and the theatre mostly emptied after a speech late in the show during which the vocalist attempted to explain her new musical direction.

I guess eight Grammy’s and a Columbia University education doesn’t get you too far these days.

Source: sfgate