Hill Moves to Higher Ground

“And now, the Grammy for best concert performance by a female artist . . . Lauryn Hill.”

Well, we may be getting ahead of ourselves a bit here.

Despite an obsession for new categories that has already pushed the number of awards to nearly 100, the Grammy brain trust hasn’t decided to honor live shows--at least not yet.

But if 1998 was the year of Hill on record, this may be remembered as the year of Hill on stage.

It was so cold here Saturday night that there were flickers of snow falling on the city’ celebrated State Street, but Hill was red hot during a frequently dazzling concert at the grand old Chicago Theatre.

In the second stop on her first U.S. solo tour, the 23-year-old singer demonstrated the same poise, ambition and command before 3,500 cheering fans as she did on “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” the album that accounted for most of her 10 nominations in Wednesday’s Grammy competition.

Hill didn’t just live up to the enormous expectation level surrounding her these days; she far exceeded it, in what may be the most accomplished tour ever by a hip-hop artist.

Though there were some moments in the show that were beautifully tender, the general tone was as intense and funk-driven as anything we’ve seen in pop since the glory days of Prince.

Backed by more than a dozen musicians and singers, Hill seemed in danger at the start of the sold-out concert of being smothered by all the support, much the way Toni Braxton was the last time around.

But the New Jersey native was in control throughout the 90-minute set.

Hill is adept at both singing and rapping, but her real gift is in the expansiveness of her musical vision, both as a writer and musical director.

Hill’s success, in songs as idealistic as “Everything Is Everything” to those as biting as “Lost Ones,” is in being able to tell a very personal story--the struggles of growing up an African American woman--in such a universal and stylish way.

You got the first trace of Hill’s philosophy and imagination even before she stepped on stage.

When the house lights dimmed, the first thing we heard was the gentle sound of an acoustic guitar, suggesting that, for all the musicians joining her for the tour, she would not sacrifice moments of intimacy and character.

The surprise on the still-darkened stage was that the guitar didn’t turn out to be from one of her musicians, but from a recording of the late Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” whose “let’s sing these songs of freedom” line defines Hill’s own desire as a musician to inspire and even liberate, as well as entertain.

Of course, the connection was all the more personal because Hill’s significant other (and the father of her two young children) is Marley’s son Rohan.

After she opened with “Ex-Factor,” a lament from the album, the audience got another surprise.

“Hey, Chicago,” the singer said, walking to the edge of the stage to explain that she had caught “this awful flu” two nights earlier in Detroit, the first stop on the tour that will include concerts March 5 and 6 at the Universal Amphitheatre.

Hill said she felt so bad that she had thought she might have to cancel the evening’s show.

As a hush fell over the audience, she added playfully, “But then I remembered that this is Chicago and where Michael Jordan can get the flu and still score 36 points.”

It could have just been great theater, but the illness was real. Hill looked pale and she took an extended break early in the show, letting the band fill in for her.

Where Hill leans more to R&B; than rap on the album, she increased the hip-hop factor live to create a more vigorous and contemporary sound, even resorting at one point to a 10-minute battle of the styles--with her band drawing cheers from the crowd by showcasing some classic Motown and then a hip-hop DJ responding with the dynamics of turntable scratching.

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If there is a sense of traditions coming together in the music, the lyrics are also concerned with issues of community and commentary, including the repeated reminder that everyone is responsible for his or her actions. “Consequence is no coincidence, hypocrites always want to play innocent,” she rapped in “Lost Ones,” and it felt good to hear good rap that wasn’t tied to violent or misogynistic themes.

She acknowledged her Fugees membership in places, but the focus of the evening was on Hill, the solo artist.

The most dramatic moment was near the end during “Doo Wop (That Thing),” her hit sisterhood anthem about, among other things, self-pride. In the song, she speaks about not having to abandon one’s heritage to fit into the mainstream. When she got to a line about hair weaves, she suddenly pulled off her cap and let her own dreadlocks fall into place as she danced about triumphantly.

It was such a magical moment that even Michael Jordan would have been impressed.