Common performed with the Grant Park Orchestra in Millennium Park in a free concert celebrating the park’s 20th anniversary. Photo by Timothy Hiatt for the Sun-Times.
In Sunday’s (7/21) Chicago Sun-Times, Erica Thompson writes, “On Saturday night, Common and the Grant Park Orchestra helped Millennium Park celebrate its 20th anniversary with a performance packed with surprises. One was a delightful mashup of Common’s song ‘Testify’ with Prince’s ‘Darling Nikki.’ Another was Common’s slow dance onstage with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. And the biggest of all: Common’s three-song duet with special guest (and his love) Jennifer Hudson. Even without those moments, the show would have been an incredible achievement, as the Chicago rapper put his all into transforming the crowded Jay Pritzker Pavilion into a jubilant affair that honored hip-hop and the Windy City…. Common was joined not only by the [Grant Park] orchestra, but a band, two backup singers and DJ Dummy on the turntables for the free concert…. Throughout the show, Common praised the Grant Park Orchestra and conductor Anthony Parnther, who brought new musical textures to his catalog. Speaking about the pairing, Common remarked, ‘Whoever thought hip-hop would take it this far?’ Paying homage to 50 years of the genre, Common launched into … a medley of classic songs by A Tribe Called Quest, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan and the Notorious B.I.G.”
