By Shanece Brent, Staff Writer

Published in print Sept. 3, 2014

On Saturday, August 30, patrons of The Blind Tiger were treated to a fantastic show celebrating Greensboro musician Laila Nur’s 27th birthday and the release of her new album, “Pocket Change”.

The show began a little after 9pm, with Nur welcoming Americana band Amelia’s Mechanics to the stage, who played several acoustic numbers before opening the stage to Brandon Wise and The Scorchin’ Sons, whose energy-filled rock-soul fusion got the audience on their feet and moving.  Next, Amelia’s Mechanics returned to the stage to lead the audience in singing happy birthday to Laila, before welcoming Laila and The Love Riot on stage.

“Ladies and gentlemen, who we’re about to welcome on stage is a very, very special person to the Greensboro community for so many reasons,” said Amelia’s Mechanics vocalist Molly Miller. “She is an artist and an activist, she is a speaker of truth and when she is on this stage she sings that truth – but what’s awesome about her is that it doesn’t stop when she gets off this stage. She walks it, lives it, breathes it – wherever she is.”

Laila Nur and The Love Riot launched into a collection of both old and new songs. Inspired by injustice, love, and passion, Nur calls her sound “revolutionary love music”. Politically intense and filled with the message of love and hope, Nur’s music is all about giving back.

“My main goal is to influence positive change via music, via art to create some type of consciousness, awareness and interconnectedness around things that we’re so divided on,” Nur said.

That goal showed in her set list, which included “Boy,” a song dedicated to the lives of transgender people, “Solider,” a song about challenging hatred with love, and “The Untitled Song,” which speaks of loving oneself and loving others. Laila is rooted deep in the Greensboro community, supporting local artists and protesting though music, especially with the Greensboro radical steel drum group, Cakalak Thunder.

“I have always believed strongly in justice,” Laila said. “It wasn’t until I moved to Greensboro and got involved with Cakalak Thunder that I really just saw how much I could include my art and my music into creating justice.”

Usually a solo act, Nur formed Love Riot with other local artists. “People had been pushing me to do a band for a while and I’ve been denying it, but I feel like it was just a natural progression,” Nur said. “It was inevitable that I would create a band and I was just lucky enough to find great folks that I could trust to do that with.” The Love Riot is a supergroup of sorts, consisting of popular local artists: Kasey Horton of Ameilia’s Mechanics on viola, Joshua McKelvey of McKelvey Warner Productions on bass and Matty Sheets (of The Blockheads) on drums.

  Towards the end of the set Laila brought up a few members of The Scorchin’ Sons to help sing “The Untitled Song.” When the set was finished and Love Riot left the stage, the fans chanted for an encore. Laila and The Love Riot obliged, playing a final, powerful song titled “Bitches and Hoes,” in which Laila masterfully raps against misogyny and homophobia.

Nur’s hobbies are just as eclectic as her musical style: When she’s not writing or preforming, she spends her time “longboarding, or eating with one of my friends or hanging with their kids, or I’m out farming in Virginia with my grandparents, or doing some type of social justice work, usually with Cakalak Thunder.” Laila can be seen next on September 10 at High Point University.