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Jon Batiste manifests collective euphoria at First Avenue

February 23, 2024

Jon Batiste performing at First Avenue in Minneapolis on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. Steven Cohen for MPR

Two parallel lines slithered along the sidewalk next to First Avenue and 7th St. Entry on Thursday evening. One was filled with people in ripped-up Carhartt jackets and piercings ready to head-bang to the Minneapolis band Prize Horse, and the other was a more poshly dressed crowd to witness Jon Batiste. In the mainroom, people stood body to body, struggling to squeeze past each other to get a view of the stage.

With a 1,500 capacity, First Avenue is a smaller space than Batiste could’ve filled. But the winner of five Grammys — out of a total of 20 nominations — had personally requested to play the historic Minneapolis venue on his first-ever headlining tour. Arriving on the heels of his eclectic seventh studio album, World Music Radio, the New Orleans native took the stage to project his bright, wholesome persona on what is dubbed the Uneasy Tour: Purifying the Airwaves for the People.

The soul, jazz, R&B, and pop-funk multi-instrumentalist showed himself to be a world-class entertainer with crowd-pleasing virtuosity from start to finish. The audience cheered after each verse, each smooth dance move, and each grin towards them. They whistled and gasped in disbelief during dynamic vocals on a performance of the classic spiritual “Mary, Don’t You Weep,” and clapped hands overhead on well-known tracks like “FREEDOM” from WE ARE, the album that dominated the 2022 Grammys, winning Album of the Year, Best American Roots Performance, Best American Roots Song, Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, and Best Music Video.

In an effort to spur collective effervescence — the emotional energy people feel when they come together around a shared purpose — Batiste ended each song with a passionate fist or a “I love you” sign language hand gesture overhead. He bedazzled the crowd with an electrifying opener, “TELL THE TRUTH,” and the heartwarming ballad “Butterfly.” “It’s like going to church,” the person standing beside me observed.

Encouragement for people to seek peace and happiness was the foundation of Batiste's presence. “Sing that healing melody with me,” he said, insisting people hold up phone flashlights during “Butterfly.” “When you sing it, it heals any toxins in your body. It’s like magic.”

He continued: “If this is what we see here, that’s what the world can look like out there. Keep the light on. We can win. We can win. Whenever you stop believing, believe in the power of this moment.”

A man plays keyboards onstage — Jon Batiste performing at First Avenue in Minneapolis on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.
Steven Cohen for MPR

It was an uplifting sentiment and a comforting idea — if you didn’t think too deeply into it. Batiste appears to believe wholeheartedly in the power of his affirmative messages. Later on, for “I NEED YOU,” he sang, “In this world with a lot of problems / All we need is a little loving.” On the surface, the words came across similar to those that teachers write on chalkboards, gift shops include on get-well-soon cards, and wellness bloggers type in captions.

But being happy at a concert is not all it takes to feel happy with the complexities of life once the show’s over. (It’s a challenge Batiste faced while by the side of his spouse Suleika Jaouad when she experienced a cancer relapse in the recent Netflix documentary American Symphony.) Those “flashlights in the air” moments didn’t fully hit home with everyone. Case in point: the encore’s opening song, an instrumental version of the United States’ national anthem, was met with a “Free Palestine” shout from someone in the crowd.

When Batiste sat down for a Q&A with Gucci Mane at Rolling Stone’s Musicians on Musicians live event last fall, the artists talked about how some people create their best work when in the most challenging periods of their lives. The interviewer asked, “You would choose a happy life instead if you had the choice?” Mane and Batiste agreed: yes. The latter said, “I think you could make some great stuff and be super happy in your life. We got to stop that myth of the tortured artist.”

Batiste’s optimism comes with a flare to music styles from across the world: Country-gospel on “Master Power,” electronic-influenced pop on “Raindance,” bluesy vibes on “CRY,” and Latin-tinged electro-funk on “Worship,” all slightly flattened into easily digestible, pop-polished tunes.

Backing Batiste’s global music exploration on stage was a talented five-piece band consisting of saxophone, guitar, harmonica, drums, bass, and double bass. Desiree Washington, also known as Desz, played a significant role with backing vocals and full-bodied vocal performances of her own.

A man wearing headphones plays keyboards onstage — Jon Batiste performing at First Avenue in Minneapolis on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.
Steven Cohen for MPR

With an affinity for covers, like the sing-along “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “You Are My Sunshine,” it would be hard to imagine Batiste not singing a Prince song in Minneapolis. The purple cardigan Batiste wore the first half of the set may have been a coincidence, or perhaps a nod to the icon. He covered the classic “Purple Rain” and when sitting at the grand piano for “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore,” sweat dripped from his face onto the keys as he added his own spin of rapid chords.

During the encore, the evening hit a climax when Batiste and a few instrumentalists paraded through the crowd and climbed the stairs onto the second level. The singer closed the show with a final solo melody on melodica, a handheld harmonica-keyboard hybrid, near the owner’s box and pointed to owner Dayna Frank and her group.

Ultimately, Batiste makes feel-good music, attempting to appeal to everyone. If a performance to encourage Minnesotans to redirect focus onto current life joys is what people came for, Batiste provided exactly that. And if they savored the euphoric atmosphere as much as Batiste seemed to, the long wait for a debut headline tour was worth it.

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