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Taken from Idaho Statesman (Feb 10, 2009)
Review: Franti raises Knitting Factory roof, money for Special Olympics
by Chad Dryden, cdryden@idahostatesman.com
Katherine Jones/Idaho Statesman
Michael Franti and Spearhead performs at the Knitting Factory as a benefit for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. |
Forget the vice president. Forget the Governator. Forget that dude from “Jackass.”
For local jam-band heads, the biggest name drawn to Boise by the Special Olympics Winter World Games was Michael Franti and Spearhead, who performed a benefit concert Monday at the Knitting Factory.
“I can’t think of a better week to be here,” Franti told the near-capacity crowd three songs into the high-energy 20-song set.
The concert, Franti’s first in Boise since 2003, was a marked contrast from his last Idaho appearance at 2008’s 48Straight music festival in Ketchum.
A year ago, Franti leaned on the reggae-rock and acoustic cuts from 2006’s “Yell Fire!” and “All Rebel Rockers,” which was released six months after the 48Straight fest.
Monday’s set still drew heavily from those two albums, but it got the blood flowing in a way last year’s Sun Valley show didn’t. (Which, admittedly, probably had something to do with the concert being held in a poorly heated tent on the streets of Ketchum in March.)
Backed by a four-piece band and Jamaican singer Cherine Anderson, who warmed the crowd with a three-song mini-set that included a cover of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” Franti came out strong with the sing-along “Everybody Ona Move” and funky “Hello Bonjour.”
The band segued into a dubby reggae groove for “Time to Go Home” and “Rude Boys Back in Town,” but unlike the inconsistent Sun Valley show, the transition wasn’t a downshift. In fact, the tempo only went up for a super-funky, synth-heavy version of “A Little Bit of Riddim,” an early highlight.
When Franti did slow the pace, it had a purpose: Strapping on an acoustic guitar for “Everyone Deserves Music,” Franti dedicated the song to all the athletes competing in the Games.
He kept it mellow for a few more songs, including a slower take on the typically up-tempo “Sometimes,” before “Hey World (Remote Control Version)” ushered in the final third (and sweatiest portion) of the show.
Fittingly, it peaked during the five-song encore, when Franti pulled a gaggle of children out of the crowd to bounce around on stage to the recently-released “Obama Song,” “Yell Fire!” (complete with a winking tease to AC/DC’s “Back in Black”) and hoe-down inducing “Say Hey (I Love You).”
Redemptive indeed.
Chad Dryden: 672-6734
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