Will Smith: A Live Journey Through His Musical Hits
How many Grammy-winning-rappers-turned-TV-sitcom-stars-turned-Oscar-winning-actors are set to perform at San Diego’s 1,100-capacity Observatory North Park?
How many have done so who became international pariahs after slapping Academy Awards host Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars telecast?
Take a bow, Will Smith, who wisely maintained a low profile after his on-air altercation with Rock nearly derailed Smith’s career and prompted him to issue a carefully worded apology. But this year has seen the former star of the TV series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” return to the spotlight, both musically and on film.
Smith made a brief guest appearance in April at the Coachella festival, where he ed Colombian reggaeton-music dynamo J Balvin to perform the title song of Smith’s 1997 film smash, “Men in Black.”
Next came a global spring publicity tour to promote “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” Smith’s first major film release since the 2022 Oscars incident known as “the Slap.” The movie, the fourth in the “Bad Boys” franchise, has grossed $200 million in the U.S. and $225 million more abroad. Clearly, Smith’s box office appeal has not waned.
Next up? Smith’s first new album since 2005, a gospel-rap outing, tentatively titled: “Dance in Your Darkest Moments,” now awaits release.
His single, “You Can Make It” — a spirited collaboration with Kirk Franklin — entered Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart in July at No. 3 and Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart at No. 23. They performed it together in June during the BET Awards telecast, a month before Smith — a 4-time Grammy Award-winner — signed a contract with the Slang record label.
“You Can Make It” was followed by “Work of Art,” a collaboration with his son, Jaden Smith, and New Jersey rapper Russ, on which the elder Smith appears to address his Oscars controversy with the line: “I am a saint, but if you touch, I am a savage.”
Negotiating his way fully beyond that controversy may be a tricky balancing act, as it would for any superstar who shocked the world with a single act of spontaneous violence and profanity. In Smith’s case, that act came as a heated response to a joke by Oscars host Rock directed at Smith’s wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, during that ill-fated telecast.
Smith is not the first beloved superstar to have a fall from grace, and he is not the first to seek redemption and to reburnish his public image. But he may be the first Oscar-winning actor to seek to do so by returning to his roots as a rapper and by using his music to help restore his image.
What remains to be seen is just how many new songs Smith will perform here Wednesday and Thursday at the Observatory North Park, his only scheduled U.S. concert dates this year.
Gis DJ-free Sept. 19 show at Brazil’s Rock in Rio festival lasted barely 20 minutes and found him performing solely to pre-recorded backing tracks with a troupe of dancers. His subsequent performance at a Twitch-sponsored event in Spain was equally brief.
If Smith is truly seeking to restore his credibility, offering concertgoers better value for their money is a sound starting point. Here’s hoping he delivers a more generous performance at his two San Diego shows.
They appear to be a prelude to Smith’s only 2025 concert announced thus far, a July 31 performance at the Positiv Festival in . It is being billed by the event’s promoters as “his big comeback.”
Will that comeback for Smith start in San Diego? Can he still get jiggy with it? We’ll soon find out.
8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Observatory North Park, 2891 University Ave., North Park. $71-$236. livenation.com
“Carols by Candlelight,” featuring Richie Furay and Rodney Atkins, with John Ford Coley, Anna Vaus, Back to the Garden & Steve Vaus
Richie Furay was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his work alongside Neil Young and Stephen Stills as a co-founder of the pioneering band Buffalo Springfield. He went on to co-found Poco and the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band before launching his solo career in 1976.
Furay, now 80, is still blessed with a golden voice and a trove of terrific songs. He will headline the first of of this year’s two Carols by Candelight concert, while country-music mainstay Rodney Atkins headlines the second. The rest of the lineup is the same both nights.
8 p.m. Friday (with Furay), 8 p.m. Saturday (with Rodney Atkins). California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. $69-$99. 800-988-4253, carolsbycandlelight.com
Leyla McCalla, with Yasmin Williams
There are few musical styles New York City-born singer, cellist, banjo player, songwriter and guitarist Leyla McCalla doesn’t perform extremely well, be it blues, country, gospel, folk, swing, Americana, Brazilian tropicalismo, reggae, Afrobeat, or, well, take your pick.
Her latest album, this year’s enchanting “Sun Without The Heat,” is the most accomplished solo outing yet by this Haitian-American polymath, who rose to acclaim as a member of Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters.
Yasmin Williams, now on tour with McCalla, also put out a terrific album this year, “Acadia.” It’s a striking showcase for her exquisite acoustic guitar reveries, which at times suggest the work of Leo Kottke at his most reflective.
But Williams, a former heavy-metal guitarist, is equally conversant with the traditions of the West African kora and is developing a distinctive musical voice. Her pairing with McCalla is a strong contender for the best double-bill of the season here.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday. $40 Price Center East Ballroom, UC San Diego, 3151 Matthews Lane, La Jolla. artpower.ucsd.edu
