Not even $65 tickets could keep a healthy crowd away from The Ritz Ybor this past Wednesday night; and while rumors of a disheveled, ultra-tardy, and washed-up Lauryn Hill have been swirling around the worldwide web as of late, the show that L-Boogie put on here was mostly devoid of the drama and nonsense that’s been reported.

Known for hitting the stage late, sometimes well past midnight, Hill bucked the trend and was poised behind the mic by 11:30 p.m. Sure, she spent a few minutes sound-checking; hell, she even “complained” about the lighting a few times. But what her fans ultimately witnessed once she got started was an artist finding her footing once again.

It’s so easy to forget that The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill came out nearly 15 years ago. And who can blame fans that still long for the Hill of 1998? That record meant a lot to a whole bunch of people, but what everyone usually overlooks is that despite being a generally extraordinary artist (who also happened to put out one of the most extraordinary albums in the history of hip hop/soul), Hill is still just a human being like everybody else.

She’s had five kids since then, and she’s spent a healthy portion of the past decade in relative musical exile. But when you look at her onstage, it’s clear she wants to return to her former greatness. She constantly pushed her band – two keyboardists, two guitarists, a bassist, drummer, and three back up singers – to be better, and while more than a few moments of the show hinted at how off-track the unit could be, the best moments were nearly spot on. The middle of the set found the band settling into a groove, and by the time they powered through “Ex-Factor,” it was clear that L-Boogie was in it, too. Her limbs loosened up and you could almost see her letting go and getting lost in the music, paying tribute to her influences (the doo-wop of The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes For You,” a Bob Marley medley) and drawing from the early repertoire that effectively launched her career. Her 17-song set featured a handful of Fugees cuts and despite the songs’ somewhat foreign, more rock-oriented arrangements, Hill’s flow and vocal delivery actually came off reassuringly familiar, her singing voice just as soulful as it was back in the day, and her rapping on “Fu-Gee-La” and “How Many Mics” taking me on a complete nostalgia trip. She even flashed that enchanting smile more than a few times, as if to remind the world that she was still a force. “I found you, but you found me too,” she said to the crowd at one point. “You must’ve been checking for me – I had to come back for you.” And we should be grateful that she did. Her performance wasn’t perfect by any means, but if Wednesday night proved anything, it was that Ms. Hill isn’t afraid to show the world that she’s most definitely on her way back.

Setlist:
01. (Unknown)
02. Everything Is Everything
03. Sweetest Thing
04. Lost Ones
05. When It Hurts So Bad
06. Superstar
07. To Zion
08. Ex-Factor
09. Get Up, Stand Up/Is This Love (Bob Marley)
10. How Many Mics (The Fugees)
11. I Only Have Eyes For You (The Flamingos)
12. Zealots (The Fugees)
13. Fu-Gee-La (The Fugees)
14. Ready Or Not (The Fugees)
15. Killing Me Softly (Frankie Valli)
16. Turn Your Lights Down Low
17. Doo Wop (That Thing)