On Wednesday (7.02,) organizers of the annual Essence Fest announced that Lauryn Hill would be a surprise performer on Friday at around midnight in New Orleans, however the hip-hop icon played to a near-empty arena.
Due to several factors, Hill took the Superdome stage at 2.31am and completed her set at 3:37am to a nearly empty, 83,000 capacity arena.
The original schedule for the Evening Concert Series was to start with Psyrin at 7.10pm, followed by Lucky Dave at 7.30pm, Coco Jones at 8pm, Glorilla at 8:30pm, The Isley Brothers at 9:15pm, Babyface at 10:10pm, Maxwell at 11:15pm, with Hill closing out the night at 12:35am. However, because all acts ran late, Lauryn’s slot was not clear until after 2am.
While the superstar, Grammy ward winner has a reputation of showing up hours late to her gigs, it appears this time was beyond her control. She is best known for her 1998 solo LP The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which is widely considered one of the best of all time, selling 20,000,000 copies worldwide.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Eddy Rissling