Summer Spirit Festival 2008

I attended the Summer Spirit Festival 2008 at Merriweather Post Pavilion on August 2, 2008 featuring Estelle, Chuck Brown, The Roots & Jill Scott.

Doors opened 2 hours before the show at 4:00pm. I arrived before the show started. The crowd of people were still trickling in right before the start time.

First up @ 6:10pm for 30 minutes was Estelle - she came all the way from the UK and did all of her songs from the "Shine" album. Just a few people were jamming to her music and I was one of them.

Next up @ 6:55pm for 55 minutes was Chuck Brown - the crowd was loving Chuck and started shouting "Wind Me Up Chuck...Wind Me Up Chuck..." I have always loved watching Chuck Brown perform (the last time I saw him was at the Carter Baron Amphitheatre last year with the SOS Band). Chuck also had his son (Nekos) on stage with him for the whole performance and his daughter (KK) came on later to do one song. Also, Little Benny also came on stage doing his stuff..."Cat in the Hat" among a few other songs.

Next up @ 8:15pm for 55 minutes was The Roots - The Roots has always been a favorite of mine. Of course they held it down performing songs from some of their albums. Black Thought even did a little freestyling. Captain Kirk got down making his face match what he played on the guitar; Tuba Gooding Jr did his thing (sousaphonist) and of we all know how great ?uestlove is overall.

Lastly @ 9:25pm for 2 hours was Jill Scott - looking great as ever. Jill sang from her latest album but also did tunes from previous albums as well. For some songs she gave a little bit of intro before going into the song. There was a time when some people thought the concert was ending and started to leave. Oh they missed out on some good stuff, because Miss Jill Scott brought out Chuck Brown and Black Thought and ?uestlove onto the stage and all started jamming. The crowd got on their feet and never missed a beat.

Overall, the show was great and I had a blast.