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A darkened stage, a cacophony of recorded whispers, and there, on an elevated platform, was Erykah Badu. Statuesque in a tall peaked black hat, her gold grillz glinting in the red then blue haze, a drum-pad to her left, her crack-team of six musicians and two backing vocalists positioned around her.
"I am a warrior princess," sang the Dallas native, 54. "I have come from the other sun. Gather all your members, unite them as one." In the first of two nights at the Royal Albert Hall, the five-time Grammy winner stepped into those words, presenting an Afrofuturistic universe of sci-fi graphics, computerised light shows and Badu-to-earth cosmic wisdom while rolling out tracks from her 2000 neo-soul classic Mama's Gun. "We love you," hollered someone, and the place erupted in cheers.
