Sparta Oakland Concert reviews
Disappointing
I have seen Derek perform a few times, and I am always left speechless by his abilities. Let me preface this by saying that I was really let down with my first Sparta experience. I once drove 5 hours to see Susan as an opening act. I have also seen them perform on the same stage with their respective bands then join together at the finale. Having said that, I am a huge Derek fan. I've seen Susan perform multiple times.
Susan didn't sing a single song off of any of her previous albums, not one. Their style of music has really changed. EVERY song turned into a 10-minute jam session. That works for them, basically Derek, Susan, and Kofi Burbridge (keyboards) are stellar musicians. But it doesn't work for some bands like Grateful Dead, Phish, etc. The rest of the band is way better than good, but they can't keep up in that type of environment.
I know that Susan had shifted from blues to more of an R&B, which actually suited her pretty well. But that night, it just seemed to have wandered too far from either of their roots.