I arrived at the Harbourfront Centre's main stage in time to hear "Change For Me" which is a house number with a light down beat and lyrics with substance. Then he went into "Couldn't Hear Me" a R&B song with pleasant strings and bouncing bass beat. Roberson's in depth lyrical style is prominent in this tune as he writes about a love that heard his music more than hearing him, a profound and unique message.
All of Roberson's lyrics come from a place of honesty a perhaps a bit of sophistication for his musical style. Unlike other R&B writers his songs are packed with stories, metaphors and very real life situations beyond the "boy meets girl" and "goodbye lover" themes that are so prevalent.
Roberson charmed the audience with an invitation to participate in his amazing songwriting skills. Choosing theme words from the crowd he created a song right before our ears with our theme words embedded in the body of the song. As affortlessly as ever this amazing spontaneous creativity revealed a brilliance and improvisational savy. Somehting I had never witnesses in a live performance before.
The theme words were: Caribana, Food, Zimbabwe, Helicopter, Sex, Chocolate. The song went on to say when he came to Caribana he saw all these people, wanted some food, perhaps meet a girl that's hot and maybe share some chocolate. He met a beautiful woman from Zimbabwe. Her love takes him higher than a helicopter and he can't talk about sex cause he just met her. The audience was ecstatic at his amazing delivery. Brilliant!
After the performance I went to have a few words with Erro and before you know he was swarmed with fans ligning up for autographs.
I laughed and stepped aside far enough to get a couple of photos.
Thank you Eric for a terrific musical experience ! Please come back soon.
Eryn Rene Vogn