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R. Kelly

(Nokia Theater; 7,100 seats; $89.50 top)

By ANDREW BARKER

R. Kelly

Presented by AEG Live. Reviewed November 5, 2009.
 

A classic study in extremes, Chicago native Robert Kelly is the auteur of some of the most silkily aphrodisiacal randb produced since the Isley Brothers discovered synthesizers, as well as the most alarmingly unhinged RandB since Screamin' Jay Hawkins first emerged from an onstage coffin. The Jekyll-Hyde tension between these two personae informs most of his best music, and though last night's alternately frustrating and fascinating show at the Nokia Theater tried hard to solely showcase the former, it ended up accidentally revealing a whole new side to the singer - R. Kelly the irrepressible goofball.

For his current tour in advance of a purportedly back-to-basics new record, Kelly steered clear of the paranoid psych-ward operettas "Real Talk" and "Trapped in the Closet" that he composed during the height of his legal troubles, when it appeared he had nothing to lose. While his reputation has been largely rehabilitated since his acquittal, one has to wonder if he's genuinely interested in playing the traditional heartthrob role anymore, having tasted the freedom of being RandB's poete maudit.

That question felt unavoidable during the early portion of Thursday's 90-minute show, a frantic cabaret-style run through truncated versions of recent hits like "I'm a Flirt" and "Freaky in the Club," as well as snippets from his contributions to songs by Young Jeezy and the Notorious B.I.G. The songs themselves were mostly played for the initial roar of recognition from the crowd, with Kelly almost immediately veering off-script into bizarre adlibs and improvs while his eight-piece band scrambled to keep up.

(Most jaw-dropping were Kelly's sung instructions to his stagehands - "Somebody move this goddamn rug / I almost tripped three times" - which he repeated with increasing soulfulness until one nearly forgot that it was not, strictly speaking, an actual song.)

It was a ceaselessly entertaining spectacle, but it also sold the strength of Kelly's songwriting short - in particular, there's no excuse for chopping "Ignition (Remix)," arguably the RandB song of the '00s, down to a minute-long tease. It wasn't until two-thirds of the way through that he really hit his stride with a simmering, expansive take on pro-infidelity anthem "Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)." Yet this seriousness was short lived, as he soon interrupted an otherwise faithful "Feelin' on Yo Booty" by inexplicably making motorboat noises in lieu of singing. One sensed that he truly just couldn't help himself.

During the encore, Kelly donned a tux for a graceful and unexpected run through a pair of Sam Cooke covers, pushing the velvety elasticity of his voice to the limit for the first time of the night. If Kelly had applied the same grit and intensity he gave "Bring It On Home to Me" into some of his own material, he could have well brought the house down.