Live Review: B.o.B

B.o.B aka Bobby Ray Simmons

Editor’s Note: DeadJournalist.com welcomes Denton Poeteet as our newest contributor. His addition provides another well-informed music critic to our roster. We are damn glad to have him. You can follow him on Twitter @littleadvances or via his blog Little Advances.

Live Review: B.o.B, July 31, 2010, Center Stage, Atlanta
by: Denton Poteet

The consensus on B.o.B seems to be that he’s a talented, ambitious guy who’s identity has been compromised by major label calculations. At least that’s the consensus among indie-minded blogs and publications. The rest of the world knows him as the young pop-rap star behind the #1 hit “Nothing On You” and its follow-up single, “Airplanes” (which only made it to #2, what a bummer).

B.o.B appeared at Center Stage in Atlanta on July 31, 2010 as part of the HP’s free Summer Music Campaign concert series (the performance was also streamed live on MySpace). The fans who picked up advance passes last week – and then lined up around the block on Saturday night outside Center Stage – weren’t there to stroke their chin and ponder over B.o.B’s musical identity; they were there to see a pop star.

Unfortunately, I happen to be of the chin-stroker variety, and I find the question of the Decatur, Ga. native’s identity to be an interesting one. He apparently wanted to release his 2010 debut album under his real name, Bobby Ray, an idea the label wasn’t so keen on.

There’s also been speculation as to how much of B.o.B’s personality made it into B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray and how much careful major label calculation affected the final product. The lyrics even cover the issue, setting up B.o.B versus Bobby Ray, the celebrity versus the ambitious kid from Decatur. I thought that maybe the live show would shed a bit more light on who Bobby Ray Simmons is and what he’s trying to accomplish.

If the live show is any indication, there’s nothing mis-representative about B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. He stuck to the script and reproduced the album’s tracks.

He had a full live band, back up singers, and a couple of dancers, but all the parts contributed by the album’s guest stars were the same prerecorded tracks from the album. I guess it’s hard to get around that when those guest parts provide your hooks (this is especially true about those by Hayley Williams and Rivers Cuomo), but it has the effect of turning B.o.B into a hype man for tracks he should instead be the star of. When performing “Airplanes” as part of the encore, his job was to basically get the crowd psyched up for the chorus.

Take it home, Paramore chick.

B.o.B is eclectic, though, so songs like that only made up about a third of the show. There was a long stretch in the middle where he picked up his acoustic guitar and ran through his funky singer-songwriter material. Unfortunately, that stuff works even less. Those songs just sound like sub-Jason Mraz lite-rock, and it becomes hard to tell them apart when he plays three or four of them in a row. It’s the kind of thing that makes “eclecticism” sound like a nice way of saying he lacks a single strong identity or personal stamp.

This is a shame, because B.o.B is clearly a talented guy, both live and on record. When he’s rapping, he commands the stage. His flow is quick and clear, and it seems to energize him.

But when he’s behind his acoustic guitar or supporting someone else’s hooks, the stage swallows him whole. At those moments he’s just a cipher, a placeholder who’s position could be filled by any willing body. The glimpses of true talent only make the moments of anonymity more frustrating.

There was only one point in the show where all the individual facets of B.o.B came together to form something actually compelling, and that was on album opener “Don’t Let Me Fall.” The song combines the big choruses with singer-songwriter flourishes and speedy rapping on the verses, and it absolutely works.

It’s a great example of interesting, idiosyncratic pop music, and it’s a sign of hope for the future of Bobby Ray Simmons.

The song is one of only four tracks from the album that he produced by himself, so here’s hoping he gets some creative freedom after a successful major label debut and starts making more stuff in a similar vein.