Wed. September 2, 2015
By Terrence Chappell
Atlanta marked the last stop of Janelle Monae's Eephus Wondaland tour powered by Toyota. For those of you who don't know, when I'm not writing I'm working as the social content manager for my client Toyota at Burrell Communications, which keeps the lights on and affords me to buy nice things like stainless steel appliances and birthday gifts. So, we want to keep her happy for obvious reasons. Any who, in support of the last tour stop I was on ground live tweeting, capturing fan engagement, shooting some snackable video, and overall giving myself excuses to snap selfies with the Wondaland crew.
Musical visionary Janelle Monae has teamed up with Epic Records to create Wondaland Records. The record label features a dynamic, unique roster of artists including: Jidenna, Roman GianArthur, Deep Cotton, and St. Beauty. And what better way to introduce a new lineup of artists to the public then with free concerts across eight major cities from San Francisco to New York! You know my motto. If you free it, they will come. And she came!
Wondaland kicked off their Atlanta tour stop with a drive-in listening session where fans were welcomed to a meet and greet with Janelle Monae and the Wondaland artists. According to Janelle Monae Atlanta is a place of inspiration and community for her and the fellow Wondaland artists.
"Whether we saw you at a party, in the streets, or a restaurant, you have inspired our music. You have inspired the sounds of the Eephus, which is the latest project we all did together. We wanted to make sure we brought the homerun to the place that inspired us all," said Janelle Monae.
And brought the homerun they did; Jackie Robinson would be proud! Later on that night, Wondaland didn't just put on a show. They put on all the performances for their live concert. And yours truly was camped out front and center with my smart phone to capture it all!
While my priority was to live tweet, I low key was looking to get chose by Jidenna. You see he was serenading me. It was just more of an inclusive serenade; since we were in public and he ain't wanna make fans jealous. I totally get it, a Classic Man indeed. One of my other favorite performances was by Roman GianArthur. This artist is a young Prince in the making. His guitar skills matched with his stage presence certainly hints to not just to a promising career but longevity. And of course Janelle Monae rocked the stage with hits such as Electric Lady and even brought it old school with a black cap, an ode to James Brown.
Above all, I noticed the incredible support each artist had for one another. When Deep Cotton performed, St. Beauty joined the fans in the crowd to show their support. When Jidenna was performing, Roman was playing guitar backup. And when any of the artists were performing, Janelle Monae joined the stage to show her support. Wondaland's performance felt like family more than anything.
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