Concert Reviewer Says Miguel Outshines Alicia Keys on Tour

By: Taren Vaughan

Miguel and Alicia Keys have teamed up together, the two currently out touring with each other. Miguel has had a good year so far as he was nominated for a Grammy and is putting on freaky performances for his fans, Miguel getting so into one of his performances that he fell off stage. While Miguel keeps cranking out the hits and continues to move up the R&B ladder, Alicia Keys has been putting on some of her own performances as well outside of their tour including her seated singing of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl that hit a nerve in some people and the halftime performance that she put on for the NBA All-Star game, Alicia getting hit with more negative comments but kept it very positive amidst the chatter. Regardless, fans of both artists were looking forward to seeing how they would deliver on this tour and if they would bring it on stage. According to Yes!Weekly, Miguel was actually the one who was on fire while Alicia Keys flickered in comparison to the show that he put on, concert reviewer says.

Here’s the report:

If there was a debate over which Grammy winner — Alicia Keys in the reaffirmation of her pop divadom, or R&B gatecrasher Miguel in the midst of a massive breakthrough — most emphatically grabbed the affections of the spare Easter weekend crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum on Saturday, one needed look no further than the show’s ASL interpreter for final arbitration. Signing a concert is inherently a performance art in its own right, and her treatment of Keys’ occasionally astonishing, but too often lackluster headlining set suggested as much; whether it was the naked primitiveness of “101,” the chorale detonation “Empire State of Mind” or the clumsy soap opera treatment of “You Don’t Know My Name,” the effort and accents registered at merely above par.

But for Miguel, the effort was hormonal, likely as lusty an exhibition as the lone signee had ever received from a liaison. Her gyrations and adoring facial expressions were an impassioned, and accurate, portrayal of the raw sexuality that Miguel’s music projects and, to some degree, an imagined seduction of the Los Angelino singer himself. That Miguel could outshine his superstar headliner in less time and with fewer production frivolities was not altogether unexpected; he’s not burdened by the duality of needing to constantly remind an older audience that he’s still the songwriting and instrumental mensch of a decade ago, while serving as the showpiece for big, invasive marketing money. He’s simply an extraordinary talent with cross-generational appeal.