Raphael Sadiq: "Jimmy Lee" Tour

MUSIC
THURSDAY & FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 & 14, 2020
8:00 PM

THURSDAY:  Terminal 5
610 West 56th Street, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
FRIDAY:  NJPAC
1 Center Street, Newark, New Jersey

THURSDAY:  $35 advance; $40 day of show
https://www.terminal5nyc.com/shows/detail/382339-raphael-saadiq-jimmy-lee-tour
FRIDAY:  $39.50-$69.50
https://www.njpac.org/event/raphael-saadiq/

I think neo-soul star Raphael Sadiq is brilliant.  Sure, I the formalist style riffs he did around the turn of the last decade more than the more personal music he dropped last year; but fuck it:  even if Jimmy Lee isn't exactly to my taste, it's a fine album, and Sadiq remains one of our best pop musicians.  And look who's opening:  Jamila Woods, whose exploration of R&B styles and antecedents was absolutely one of the best albums of last year (better than Sadiq's, to be honest), and whom a lot of us are itching to see live.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  THURSDAY, Terminal 5 might be one of the worst venues in New York — but at least it's near the fairly wonderful Ardesia Wine Bar.  FRIDAY, I don't think you can go out on Valentine's Day in Newark any more than you can in NYC.  But I doubt the one-night-out-a-year dating crowd will make it to McGovern's Tavern.