By Ale Perez

This wasn’t an average concert. There was no way to identify the type of music you were about to hear by looking at the spectators. There was no clear audience at MSG, no punk rockers or flocks of girls ready to see their favorite pop star as a very mixed crowd gathered at Madison Square Garden’s Theater last Monday, April 23, under one name: John Legend.

Legend visited New York City in an extension of his promotional tour with Corinne Bailey Rae.

Opening act Rae is a fresh, new singer from England with not many followers in the audience at the Legend concert. Despite this, she tried to win over the audience with a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Since I’ve Been Loving You,” and her singles “Like a Star,” and “Put Your Records On.”

Then came the main act as Legend, an Ohio native, started the hour and a half show with his characteristic piano tunes which made him both famous and the winner of five Grammys. He moved into his first song, “Heaven,” rapidly and unlike his opening act pumping the crowd up.

Legend kept the audience members on their feet, walking through the crowd, dancing and going from one hit to the other from his two albums Get Lifted and the new Once Again. The screaming audience sang along with tracks like “Alright,” “Save Room,” “PDA,” and “Used to Love You,” and mellowed down with hits like “Ordinary People.”

But the public cheered the most came during his performance of “Slow Dance,” in which a lucky lady from the audience went on stage to do exactly that – slow dance with Legend.

The audience went crazy when the charismatic lady started taking her jacket off, getting more comfortable for the dance as Legend just got a laugh out of the situation.

After performing more of his hits, like “Where Did My Baby Go,” a song he proclaimed his personal favorite, and “Feel Like Making Love” with opening act Rae, he left the stage for a few minutes.

Legend then returned to promote his new campaign to end poverty and to perform the deep “Show Me,” which presents Legend’s conversation with God about the state of the current world. He ended the show with “Coming Home” while showing pictures of soldiers in Iraq on a screen behind him and thanking the public for supporting him.

There is no doubt that Legend has great songwriting and piano skills but it is his extremely energetic personality onstage that wins everybody over.

For more information about Legend’s campaign against poverty, go to showmecampaign.org