The public meltdown of Lauryn Hill, which has been apparent for five years, moved further into the realm of the bizarre Wednesday night during a late-starting sold-out show at Oakland's Paramount Theatre. The 32-year-old New Jersey singer-rapper's 90-minute performance mixed new, unfamiliar material with hits from a decade past, most of them rendered unrecognizable by radical new arrangements and a blaring, poorly balanced sound mix. Aural audience response was divided between cheers and boos.
Others sat and stood in silence, their mouths agape at what they were hearing and seeing. Her hair in an unkempt rust-colored Afro, Hill wore a green-and-yellow plaid jacket that appeared to be made of wool and an ankle-length black skirt, looking not unlike a bag lady one might encounter at a taco truck on International Boulevard. She held a microphone in her right hand and a black handkerchief in her left, frequently wiping sweat from her face as she paced the stage.
At one point during the show, the singer tripped and fell, landing flat on her backside. "That's what I get for wearing high heels," she said as she rose to her feet. Only during Hill's version of Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel's "Killing Me Softly With His Song," which she recorded with the Fugees in 1995, did her ensemble of 10 instrumentalists (all from the Bay Area), a DJ and a quartet of female harmony singers become quiet enough for her voice to cut through clearly.
A raspy tone, cracked notes, clipped phrases and melismas that meandered painfully off pitch demonstrated just how badly Hill's once-commanding pipes have deteriorated. Most of the music, including old favorites such as "Ready or Not" and "To Zion," as well as newer material recorded locally last year but reportedly rejected by Columbia Records for being too uncommercial, was treated to highly syncopated arrangements drawing on Afro-pop and reggae elements.
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