GRACE JONES Playing LA and NY Aug-Sep 2015

[HorseTears]

Posted: 6/9/15 at 4:52am

And, apparently, her new album could be out by then, too.  She's headlining a festival in Brooklyn and what's essentially a "KCRW Presents" evening at the Hollywood Bowl. She's also playing the British Time Festival in London later this month with Kylie and Nile Rodgers, but, alas, I have not met my dream man [investment banker with taste for Chicken Tikka] so I will not be attending.  These are pretty much can't miss events for LA and NY queers.  

 

AFROPUNKFEST

Brooklyn

Aug 22

 

KCRW WORLDFEST AT HOLLYWOOD BOWL

Los Angeles

Sep 27

 

 

I don't think that Grace should be seen when there is a hint of sunlight - unless it's the sun of the approaching dawn - but here are some snaps from recent UK and Australia festival appearances in May:

 

 

 

[HorseTears]

Posted: 9/27/15 at 4:17pm

HOLLYWOOD BOWL Toniiiiiight!  So excited!  Anyone else going?  I mean, besides every gay in the greater LA area.  

[Steve C.]

Posted: 9/27/15 at 4:41pm

Hopefully, these concerts will be filmed for HBO or dvd or something.

I never really started to appreciate Grace Jones until I was able to hear all of her stuff and not just the big "hits". She is so underrated by the public because she breaks the mold and can't be pigeon-holed. I know she is still performing regularly in France and Europe. I love Everybody Hold Still, Libertango, The Hunter Gets Captured and of course, LVER.

Have a blast!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/27/15 at 6:35pm

She's so prolific and always busy!!

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 9/27/15 at 8:37pm

I saw her @ the Afropunkfest in Brooklyn. She did not disappoint! She's still got it! Like the kids say, "She turned it".

[HorseTears]

Posted: 10/2/15 at 1:32am

A couple of you PM'd me asking why I hadn't written anything about Grace's Hollywood Bowl concert.  I had a very complicated and unexpected reaction to Grace's show.  It was not quite what I was expecting.  I wrote about it in detail elsewhere.  I don't think it will be of interest to anyone who isn't very familiar with Grace, but here you go...

 

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/2/15 at 4:30pm

Her reputation has grown the longer she goes without doing anything.  And in my opinion is now at an unearned level.  She must know it too or she wouldn't be trashing other women at every single opportunity.  

[DAME]

Posted: 10/2/15 at 4:49pm

I was there as well.  I must say it was a mixed bag for me as well.  My love / hate relationship with the Bowl was on the hate side.. as I found that people in my section of the audience ( section G) were not there to watch the show as much as to take selfies and make sure the evening was more about them than the artist on stage.  But some of the blame for that lies on Grace herself.  She failed to capture the crowd.  During the costume changes between songs she kept the mike on and made a attempt to chat with the audience or continue singing words from the previous songs .  Those were my favorite moments.  I loved when she was late on a number and she yelled  " I am late!  I am always ****ing late! "  Also her material is not that good.  I knew 3 of the songs and the rest seemed to go on forever. I am glad I saw her.  She has always been on my list.  But I really feel no need to ever see her again.

Updated On: 10/2/15 at 04:49 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/2/15 at 4:54pm

And that's the benefit of never really doing anything!

[haterobics]

Posted: 10/2/15 at 4:55pm

She showed up 4+ hours late to her own book event last night, at which point less than 20 people remained, heh.

 

Adam Feldman was one of the few, according to his Twitter account.

[DAME]

Posted: 10/2/15 at 4:57pm

And while the costumes, the topless shtick, the penis, and the hula hoop bit were fun... I have seen better from other drag queens. 

Updated On: 10/2/15 at 04:57 PM

[HorseTears]

Posted: 10/2/15 at 7:57pm

Sorry she wasn't your cup of tea, Dame.  I certainly had a much better time than you did.  I do wish I'd been able to see her in a more intimate venue like the Fox in Oakland where, according to friends, the atmosphere was electric. The Bowl is, unfortunately, as much a summer social gathering as it is concert venue.  

 

[DAME]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 2:19pm

HorseTears said: "Sorry she wasn't your cup of tea, Dame.  I certainly had a much better time than you did.  I do wish I'd been able to see her in a more intimate venue like the Fox in Oakland where, according to friends, the atmosphere was electric. The Bowl is, unfortunately, as much a summer social gathering as it is concert venue.  "

 

Yeah.. I am done with the Bowl for a while.    I took to youtube this weekend and watched some of Grace Jones chat show appearances.  The one on the Joan Rivers show was fun.  But if you look up some of her concert appearances she has been doing the same thing with no changes for years.  Even some of the wardrobe is the same.  

 

 

 

Updated On: 10/5/15 at 02:19 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 2:22pm

YES BUT SHE DID IT FIRST, SHE WANTS YOU TO KNOW!!!

[DAME]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 2:25pm

FindingNamo said: "YES BUT SHE DID IT FIRST, SHE WANTS YOU TO KNOW!!!"

 

And she was saying that back then as well. 

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 3:22pm

I know.

 

And as David Bowie said, "It doesn't matter who does something first.  What matters is who does it second."

[HorseTears]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 4:11pm

Grace is nothing if not a bundle of contradictions.  Also, a good 30% of her output has been (great) covers, so she was often second herself anyway.  But don't tell her that.  

 

DAME, I think you would have preferred her 2009 Bowl concert.  It's where she debuted several Eiko Ishioka costumes especially for the show and when she was, well, a bit more sprightly and powerful. Expecting Madonna-level spectacle from an artist who was never as wealthy or connected as she was famous may be a bit much.  I don't think her show budgets are huge.  I mean, she hasn't found a promoter who would give her a national tour in this country for decades, but always manages to do so in Europe and even down under.  

[DAME]

Posted: 10/5/15 at 4:23pm

@Horse  I did hear that was a better show artistically .  I also heard she took forever between numbers and that she was so late that the Bowl cut her off at her first encore because of the areas curfew.   I believe that also might have happened with this last concert as "I need a man" was cut from the setlist.  I guess this all ads to some of her mystique.  But I am finding mystique to be vastly overrated.  

 

@Namo. maybe it is a generational thing?  Liza also tells the same things... she gets them confused .. but it is all the same . 

[uncageg]

Posted: 10/6/15 at 11:06pm

Saw her at the first pier pressure party in Philly to benefit AIDS. It was at an enclosed pier on the river and was an incredible night. I kind of decided I would not see her again after that. Love the music she puts out and can't wait to read her new book.

Updated On: 10/6/15 at 11:06 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/6/15 at 11:07pm

I didn't even know she was a singer until a couple years ago. I just knew her as the lady from the Duran Duran video.   She said something about Lady Gaga today, too. And church! 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 10/6/15 at 11:40pm

Grace and Chrissie Hynde should zip their proverbials.