Near the end of her set at the United Center on Oct. 28, Ms. Lauryn Hill told Chicago fans that she was inspired by “soul music,” “movements of protest,” and “love songs” when creating her masterpiece 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
“I wanted to make music that allowed us to be vulnerable on the outside, as well as the inside. And I wanted to make that music cool enough for both the ladies and the fellas to be able to get down with. I wanted our friends to be able to listen to something as sensitive as a piece by Roberta Flack or something that Curtis Mayfield would write,” she said before also shouting out Donny Hathaway. “Something that would carry on the legacy of all these great artists and great musicians who I love and what that did was give birth to tunes like this one.”
As “this one’s” iconic piano intro played through the sound system, the venue unified to sing and dance to the tune better known as “Doo Wop (That Thing),” a song that not only honors the legends of the past, but serves as a building block of inspiration for so many of the artists that followed. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, an album now celebrating its 25th anniversary, truly taught a generation of music fans about strength that grows from love.
There’s strength in love and power in numbers and the second half of the show found Hill reuniting with her Fugees bandmates – Wyclef Jean and Pras – to also celebrate the trio’s legacy with a setlist full of tracks from their albums, Blunted on Reality and The Score. “Vocab” and “How Many Mics” were early crowd-pleasers and when Wyclef asked fans to hold up their lighters, the entire audience illuminated every inch of the venue. More Fugees’ favorites as well as solo hits from Wyclef and Pras kept the party going late into the night.
Seeing all three of the Fugees on stage together – and even one out in the crowd – was quite possibly a once in a lifetime experience for Chicago fans and it was most certainly a dream come true for everyone who was lucky enough to be at the United Center that Saturday night.
Check out photos from Ms. Lauryn Hill and the Fugees’ Oct. 28 performance below and click here to pick-up tickets for future tour dates. A full list of upcoming events at the United Center can be found at Unitedcenter.com
(Photos by Laurie Fanelli)
