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Taken from The Reno Gazette-Journal (August 5, 2010)
Review: Franti and Spearhead pull crowd into show
by Jason Kellner, jkellner@rgj.com
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Michael Franti (publicity photo) |
Unless you had a broken limb, it would have been nearly impossible to leave the Knitting Factory on Wednesday night without a smile on your face.
The infectious energy dispensed by Michael Franti and Spearhead, in his nearly two-hour, sold-out show, was too much to resist.
It started with an admirable warmup from Denver band Flobots, which got the crowd ready with its violin-infused hybrid of hip-hop and rock, including the band’s best-known songs “No Handlebars” and “Rise.”
But it was Franti’s show, which started with a simmer and never let up until a boiling point was reached near the end of the show. Franti and his six-piece band, Spearhead, had the crowd on the hook from the first notes of “I Know I’m Not Alone,” just one of the band’s many uplifting songs that range from acoustic-guitar driven melodies, a la Jack Johnson, to heavy doses of reggae and funk.
It was a busy day for Franti, who told of a day engaged in the whole Reno experience. He did a radio show early in the day, hit the Hot August Nights action and a yoga class in the afternoon, and caught a few innings of the Aces game all before the concert. But his energy still was full-on for the concert. It’s that energy, along with an arsenal of catchy songs that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
Few artists will go the lengths that Franti did to engage his fans. His bag of tricks included inviting fans on stage to sing, letting a couple come on stage to initiate their wedding week, letting fans play his guitars, sneaking out of the building and returning to move through the crowd from behind, and inviting all the children in the house to join him on stage for the finale of his only Top 40 hit, “Say Hey.”
Throughout the set, Franti peppered the show with a heavy dose of songs from his yet-to-be-released new album — at least four of them — but the crowd didn’t seem to care, given Franti’s way with putting the crowd in his lap. The set otherwise contained mostly songs from his past four albums, including “The Thing That Helps Me,” “Rude Boys,” “Everyone Deserves Music,” “Yell Fire” and “Everybody On a Move.”
Credit is due to the guitar stylings of Spearhead member Dave Shul, who shared the leads with another guitarist while Franti provided mostly rhythm guitar.
Always the social activist, Franti didn’t miss a chance to step onto a soapbox, talking of the need for renewable energy after the Gulf oil disaster. But it was only a brief moment in the show, and he didn’t force any ideals on the audience, but rather let the messages in his music marinate into the crowd. For sure, that marinade in the fans’ shirts after the show was a mix of sweat and inspiration.
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