Mary J. Blige brings royal show to Boston
Blige opened Monday night's show with 'Take Me As I Am,' a gently grooving cut that laid out her modus operandi: 'Put my life all up in these songs, just so you can feel me (so you get the real me),' she sings at one point. Over her three-plus-decade career, audiences have watched Blige grow fully into herself and turn the lessons she's learned into barn-burning songs that double as moments of connection. 'No More Drama,' released in 2001, flips the deliberate piano chords of the 'The Young and The Restless' theme into a rhythm for striding away from troublemakers; the simmering 'Good Morning Gorgeous,' from her 2022 album of the same name, is a reminder to treat oneself tenderly, even when self-hatred is eating away at the soul.
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Mary J. Blige performed at TD Garden on Monday.
Brent Goldman
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Blige has a powerful voice that can hit the high notes in winning fashion, and it was the centerpiece of Monday night's show. Her lyrics often have a conversational immediacy that fuels her bond with her listeners, but there are also points where the big emotions she's describing can only be matched by showcases of her vocal prowess. When she reached the climactic moment of the piano-led ballad 'Be Without You,' pyrotechnics rained from above, putting an exclamation point on her intensity. Near the end of the 1995 kiss-off 'Not Gon' Cry,' she bellowed 'he wasn't worth me' with a fervency that could have caused explosions of its own.
Monday's fast-moving set included more than 30 songs from across Blige's catalog and was capped by the confidently celebratory 'Family Affair.' Blige has named her current arena run 'The For My Fans Tour,' and appropriately enough, she thanked the assembled profusely — for coming to the show, for singing along, and for supporting her throughout the years.
'I just wrote down what I felt, what I was going through,' Blige said in a videotaped interlude near the show's outset. She was talking about her debut album, but in the years since its release, that honesty, combined with her considerable talent and undeniable charisma, has helped Blige become one of pop royalty's most down-to-earth members.
Mary J. Blige performed at TD Garden on Monday.
Brent Goldman
MARY J. BLIGE: THE FOR MY FANS TOUR
With Ne-Yo, Mario
At TD Garden, Monday
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