Franti and Spearhead hit the coast
The Music Farm, Charleston, S.C., February 21, 2009
Reviewed by Robert Loy
As you might expect from a guy of African, American Indian, Irish, French, and German descent, whose music has been described as a blend of hip hop with funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock, the crowd at a Michael Franti concert is a diverse one. Dreadlocked college kids rub elbows with balding old hippies and elementary school teachers and the "stock brokers, law enforcers, late-night cokers, arms dealers, man-stealers, big wheelers" referenced in "Soundsystem."
All are drawn by one or more aspects of Franti's music - to dance to the irresistible rhythms, ponder the seeking-social-justice lyrics or to bask in the aura of peaceful funk Franti exudes.
A Spearhead concert was nothing if not democratic. Unofficial band member Cherine Anderson got almost equal time on the microphone, and the multitalented Jamaican singer-actress proves more than worthy. Revelers were pulled up from the stage to dance, some of them proving more worthy than others. Franti even came out and played tambourine as the opening act Courtney John performs, in effect backing up his own back up band.
The music was high energy, impossible to sit still to, but as the crowd was past sell-out and into fire hazard, all but the most far-flung frolickers had only enough room to put their hands in the air and jump up and down. Fortunately, this appears to be the official Michael Franti and Spearhead dance move. Any time the intensity dipped below 11 - which wasn't often - Franti would shout "I want you jumping!," and his crowd would enthusiastically oblige.
The setlist ranged all over Franti's career, although not as much from his earlier angry young man phase as from his current incarnation as a globe-trotting proponent of peace, specifically from his latest album "All Rebel Rockers," which was performed almost in its entirety. The roof seemed to be in most serious danger of being raised during Hey World (Remote Control Version) and Rude Boys Back in Town, and was finally blown off sometime during the five-song encore - probably during the anthemic Say Hey (I Love You).
