D’Angelo was the featured musical guest on what was a very special edition of the popular Verzuz livestream performance series on Saturday night, where the famously reclusive singer welcomed special guests to his set which aired live from the historic Apollo Theater in New York City.
Throughout his D’Angelo & Friends Verzuz set–which notably differed from the virtual performance series’ standard artist format–D’Angelo welcomed sit-ins from jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold, 2020 breakout guitarist H.E.R., Method Man, and Redman, who each helped the singer deliver a mix of new originals, older fan favorites, and notable covers.
Following a lengthy DJ set to open the two-hour stream, D’Angelo finally appeared in a large black fur coat (duh) and sat behind the piano where he welcomed Keyon Herrold to help start the performance with an untitled new original. D’Angelo then delivered his take on Smokey Robinson‘s “Cruisin'” before continuing with some original songs from the Brown Sugar tracklist including “Alright”, “Lady”, and “Me and Those Dreamin’ Eyes of Mine”. D’Angelo then welcomed Method Man and Redman to help perform on the Voodoo track “Left and Right”, after which Method Man remained on stage to help sing on “Break Ups 2 Make Ups”.
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D’Angelo continued with solo renditions of songs from his Black Messiah album including “1000 Deaths”, “Back to the Future, Pt. 1”, and “Sugah Daddy”, which were followed by more Voodoo tracks “Devil’s Pie”, “One Mo’ Gin”, “Chicken Grease”, and “Feel Like Makin’ Love”.
Following his solo rendition of “Spanish Joint”, D’Angelo then welcomed H.E.R. to the stage for her own acoustic performance of “Best Part” from her 2017 self-titled album. The two then proceeded to deliver a duet take on “Nothing Even Matters”, a song on which D’Angelo performed which first appeared on Ms. Lauryn Hill‘s acclaimed 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
The webcast came to a close with performances of “The Root”, “Brown Sugar”, and “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”.
Rewatch the D’Angelo & Friends Verzuz performance from Saturday in the Instagram video player below.
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Setlist: D’Angelo & Friends | Apollo Theater | New York, NY | 2/27/21
Set: Untitled New Song*, Cruisin’ (Smokey Robinson cover), Alright, Lady, Me and Those Dreamin’ Eyes of Mine, Left & Right^!, Break Ups 2 Make Ups^, 1000 Deaths, Back to the Future, Pt. 1, Sugah Daddy, Devil’s Pie, One Mo’ Gin, Chicken Grease, Feel Like Makin’ Love, Jonz in My Bonz, Really Love, Another Life, Send It On, Spanish Joint, Best Part%, Nothing Even Matters% (Ms. Lauryn Hill cover), The Root, Brown Sugar, Untitled (How Does It Feel)
Notes:
* w/ Keyon Harrold
^ w/ Method Man
! w/ Redman
% w/ H.E.R.