"The Big and Heavy Tour" - Atlanta Heat, British Beats, and Macy Gray?

On the eve of one of the hottest days in Atlanta I make my way to Chastain Park to lay out on the lawn and chill to the tunes of the Brand New Heavies opening for Macy Gray.

Now I've never ventured out to Chastain Park, so needless to say I got turned about and twisted within a community of mini mansions with bold design,mature structure, and lots of character. As I was searching for parking I noticed that Chastain was not simply a park but a full on community complete with a pool, swanky private school, country club, and horse riding complex. I wouldn't believe all of this existed in the northern end of a big city, but it did. While driving the curvaceous roads of Atlanta I could hear the music from the Brand New Heavies band wailing away.

I managed to meet my friend during a brief parallel parking stint and we hiked up the hill to the venue: Chastain Park Amphitheater. Our tickets assigned us to the lawn, which was a few rows of grass at the very back of the venue. It was actually a great spot with a wonderful view of everything. Occupied by couples, friends, wine bottles and mosquito's the sounds of the Brand New Heavies front woman, N'Dea Davenport, made the crowd get out of their seats and move their hips. The band performed music from their latest album "Get Used to it." The Brand New Heavies have been together for 15 years and in the mid 90's lead singer N'dea broke off to pursue a solo career. Now, with the release of "Get Used to it" the original group is back together and better than ever!

The set was wonderful and even had me dancing under the trees. Though it was a very hot night and mosquito's were hungry for sweet Ga peach blood, the atmosphere was quite cheery and fresh. The couple to my right were our resident hippies, the couple below them were imported from Brazil and made Caiparinhas through out the night. Two young women below me grubbed on fruits and drank fruity wine while a grown behind man to my left, screamed loudly and ducked for cover from a flying bat, his significant female other sitting calmly beside him.

So its intermission time and another dear friend of mine was working as press and had space to sit near her much closer to the stage. Of course I wouldn't pass on that! We made our way to a closer row and was soon in the midst of tables with scented candles, and half drunk patrons fragranced with Off mosquito spray. The music starts and a large poster unfolds from behind a curtain. Macy Gray's face appears on it and the show begins.

Percussion, pianist, guitarists all join the stage at once. The two back up singers come out decorated in gold, dresses circa 1950 and slight beehives to match. And here she comes, Ms. Macy Gray in a straight hanging white dress, crystal studded microphone stand and raspy voice. Macy commands the stage with a drunken grace and witty humor. She belts out songs from her new album "Big," co-produced by the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am. Many of her songs reflected on relationships gone bad and how the absence of a man finally makes her happy.

By the end of the first set Macy left the stage for a costume change and came back in an identical red version of the first straight forward outfit. Before re-commanding the stage her singers showcased their outstanding voices and blew us away with moving improvs and a small musical challenge between the voice of one singer and the drummers instruments. After the introduction of the band Macy went on to croon and blasted out tunes such as "Strange Behavior" and "Ghetto Love."

The rest of the evening was accompanied by two more costume changes where first she came out in a red suit complete with red corset and top hat with feathers. Then a gorgeous baby blue and pink jersey cotton, fitted dress with a yellow whimsical design painted on her back. A pivotal moment during the concert came when she covered a song written by John Lennon called "Woman is the Nigger of the World." A song that talked about the place and role of women in our society. How we were overlooked and taken for granted and treated as second class citizens. The content was more befitting of the era it was written in but still reflects remnants of how women in different cultures and class' are treated today.

The concert ended with one of my favorite selections and her first single "I Try." The words of the song trailed into the night as thousands of people sang them & lifted their glasses for that last sip of the happy juice, as the Big and Heavy Tour came to an end. "I try to say goodbye and I choke, I try to walk away and I stumble, never try to hide it, it's clear, my world tumbles when you are not here." (On How Life Is;Macy Gray)

Happy Jammin'

Amanda