CONCERT REVIEW - Michael Franti & Spearhead 9/26/08

Michael Franti & Spearhead – 9/26/08 – Paolo Soleri Amphitheater, Santa Fe, NM
Concert Review by Chris Diestler, KBAC

Okay, maybe I’m getting a little jaded, but I used to think, “If you’ve seen one Michael Franti show you’ve seen them all.” Damn, was I wrong. The show at Santa Fe’s grooviest venue – Paolo Soleri – was a revelation.

Even a cursory listen to his latest albums (2006’s “Yell Fire!” and the new release “All Rebel Rockers”) might have presaged what I-and-I-and-what-seemed-like-the-rest-of-Santa-Fe were in store for, and we knew it would be an unusual night due to the pre-show simulcast of the McCain-Obama debate, but I seriously had my mind blown by Franti’s new stage show. He has taken it to the next level.

His famously documented travel to other countries (including a documentary shoot / concert tour of Iraq which, according to legend, was free to all) has had an amazing effect on this man and his presentation. In terms of this concert, perhaps most salient among his outlook-expanding voyages was setting up shop in Kingston, Jamaica where dub legends Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare would record the new songs. Presumably handpicking Cherine Anderson from the Jamaican dancehall circuit to work the crowd and sing back-up, Franti’s show is no longer the bare-bones venture of yesteryear. He’s always been a natural entertainer and knows how to work a crowd. But now, by G*d, he’s got a SHOW!

We had watched, with bizarre fascination, the McCain-Obama debate on a jury-rigged big screen above the stage. When Franti was ready to come on, he pulled a ZOO-TV-esque (U2 reference) silhouette introduction to 2006’s “Hello Bonjour,” backlit against the big screen while it hawked seemingly random commercial products. The rhythm section was a fu**ing freight train. I was their plaything.

Lyrics like “you say you’re a Christian cause God made you / and you say you’re a Muslim cause God made you / you say you’re a Hindu and the next man a Jew / then we all kill each other cause God told us to” never hit me so hard. He’s always had good backup. But this combo is unstoppable. Between the DJ (keyboardist?), the drummer, and the aforementioned Ms. Anderson, the show hit the ground running and didn’t let up until the Bob Marley end-of-show exit music came up with the lights some 90 minutes later.

Leaning mostly on material from “All Rebel Rockers,” Spearhead delivered a conscious, positive, energetic performance. Acoustic re-workings of songs like “Sometimes” (originally from 2001’s “Stay Human”) and the poignant new song “Nobody Right Nobody Wrong” gave Franti a chance to sit his sizable frame down on a stool and let us all catch our breath before the next wave of happy dancing / chanting.

It’s now almost the “Michael Franti All-Reggae Review” and I couldn’t help but wonder whether he realizes, with his charisma and this new act, he could be the next Bob Marley (or as close as someone from Oakland could hope to be). He seems to be a genuinely peaceful, intelligent human being and I, for one, think he’s doing the right thing, creatively, by focusing more on the positive than previous, angrier efforts.

Other highlights for me included:

“Yell Fire” (from the album of the same name), a political rock anthem if ever there was one, which we were only too willing to chant along with;

“The Future” (from the new release), and I, too, hope it gets here soon;

the timely-as-ever Bring the Boys (and Girls) Back Home sing-along “Light Up Ya Lighter,” combined with a powerful “Time to Go Home” (both from “Yell Fire”), reminded us of the ridiculous quagmire we’re still stuck in in Iraq;

Even the silly, “loudy-loud” bass-driven “Everybody Ona Move” (from “Yell Fire”) got me moving in its current incarnation. And hey, he managed to rhyme “vamanos” with “dominoes.” (^_^)

“I Got Love for You,” from the latest release, which he introduced as a song he wrote for his child who took a Greyhound bus to New York to see what life was really about, struck a chord with the crowd and got them all singing, even though the new album was hot off the press and unfamiliar to most. Such is Franti’s superpower – a commanding voice and an uncanny ability to turn an immediately memorable phrase.

He admitted from the stage, during a segue into an acoustic number, that the Democratic National Committee had asked if they could set up a booth at the show. His response was along the lines of, “certainly, as long as any Republicans or Green Party or Libertarians who wish to set up are also allowed.” This inclusive attitude is still surprisingly rare even in “enlightened” Santa Fe (and shame on you for shouting John McCain down before the show, even if it was pretty hilarious), but Michael Franti seems determined to follow it through to its logical conclusion – bringing power to the peaceful.

Michael Franti has found a nice groove. I think it suits him. Though he’s always been eloquent, I think he’s finally found his voice.

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