Last night I attended a show at the Capital One Arena called, “The Night Tour” featuring Maxwell, Anthony Hamilton and Joe. My friend Angel’s husband bought her two tickets to the show and she invited me and I agreed to go with her. Angel picked me up (because my car needs some repairs) and we headed towards downtown DC on what has been a lovely day weather wise. The show was due to start at 7pm but we decided that we would stop and get something to eat at a mexican restaurant called Oyamel.  We arrived to the restaurant at about 6:15pm and the closest availability that they had for two people wouldn’t be until 9pm so we opted to go somewhere else and ended up at Seoul Spice on the same block further up. It was our first time eating there and the food was actually really good (very tasty). I went to drop off my leftovers to the car in the garage and on our way there we saw the line beginning to wrap-around on the inside as well as forming on the outside.

      We opted to stand outside in a line that appeared to be shorter and thankfully it was so we got in quicker and once inside, we realized it was about 7:15pm and the show apparently seemed to have started already (we were shocked it began on time).  I guessed the order of the line-up and I was right, first was Joe, Anthony Hamilton second and then of course Maxwell closed out the show.  We had really good seats off to the side close up to the stage in section 112 row R mid row (her husband picked really good seats). Joe was on stage performing dressed in what appeared to be a nice silver satin shirt and pants with shades on (he was looking real cool). He went through his best songs as he danced and sang and the audience did the same. I would say his set lasted a good 40-45 minutes.

      There was an intermission after Joe and a DJ came on and played some old school music that the audience definitely jammed to. This was catered to more of an older crowd as I looked around everyone was dressed to impress but you could definitely tell most people were older (but we are young old souls-come to find out we were sitting next to some 90’s babies). After the intermission, Anthony Hamilton came on and he went through all of his hits (some of them I had actually forgotten about). He was dressed in what seemed to be (at least from far away) an orange suit with a nice big orange hat but it was more of a light brown color. He moved and grooved across the stage dropped it low a couple of times singing to the ladies out in the audience and even he even sang some songs that he was featured in whether he was singing or playing an instrument in the background. It was a whole vibe and I feel as though his set lasted about 50 minutes to an hour.

      The next intermission began and The DJ played some old school, homecoming and family reunion music and of course the crowd danced and sang along. Then they played some go go music and the crowd got into it (as far as dancing). Everyone ended up turning their head towards the back of the floor because let me tell you this woman was getting it to this go go mix and the crowd was cheering her on. As soon as the music died down the lights went out and it was Maxwell’s turn to show out. Maxwell got straight into it and started playing some hits and I didn’t realize how many hits of Maxwell’s that I knew. I was really impressed how he was able to captivate the entire audience because everyone appeared to be on their feet jamming already.

      Maxwell had on some black pants and a black top but it had a little bit of a sparkly bottom to it (I was loving it-I like sparkles).  Now Maxwell danced across the stage and dropped it low a few times too and he stayed there longer than I would so I’m trying to get to that level now (lol).  He’s in great shape to only be 48 years old and there’s just an aura about him, you can tell that he’s genuinely himself and that he loves what he does. He reminisced on playing at Constitution Hall 26 years ago in DC and said he sees it as a special place in his heart. He shared how happy he was to be performing after having two years on lockdown due to the pandemic and thanked us all for coming out and showing support to the entire show. Maxwell stayed on for at least an hour to an hour and 15 minutes and it was an amazing set. When you find yourself closing your eyes and losing yourself deep into the music as you sing and dance along to a song that you love, that’s how you know you are in the right place at the right time and you’re having a good time.

     The show ended around 10:30pm and Angel and I knew it was going to be a while getting out of the parking garage so we stopped by Häagen Dazs in Gallery Place before we went to the car and got some ice cream. We sat in the car and ate our ice cream. It didn’t look like it would be anytime soon that we would be getting out of the parking garage because we were actually stuck in the space that we were in due to cars trying to get out. We ended up being stuck for about 30+ minutes and we just sat and talked. We didn’t end up getting out of the parking garage until after 11pm it was really ridiculous how long it took (Capital One really needs to do a better job at getting patrons out). Angel dropped me off back at home and since I owed her some Topo Chico was finally able to give that to her and she gave me some girl scout cookies. It was a fully packed day (took my car to the mechanic and worked a gig earlier) and a great night (dinner and a show with a friend). Until the next show…