Who is this Antibalas?
I finally got a chance to see these guys in concert last night, and they sure didn't disappoint!
This is a large group, I counted 10 people on stage, a small stage within a small venue. I was wondering how they would all fit and, well, they managed to do so by just cramming real close to each other. At one point, they even had a guest sax player onstage, an original member of the group who is now a member of a local group named Nomo.
Man did these guys jam! They were pretty much great from start to finish, although my sister-in-law Amanda thought that the song "Who is this America?" went on a bit too long. I'd have to agree and it's not surprising since that I find the studio version of the song to be the same way.
The highlight of the show was definitely the song "Indictment", which had a definitively harder-edged sound live than the studio version. Stuart Bogie began yelling out the usual indictments of the Bush administration, then let audience members yell out names of others who should be indicted. He was astute enough to point out that we didn't want to engage in double jeopardy when an audience member yelled Donald Rumsfeld's name after Stuart had already indicted him. At least I thought that was funny. During this tune was also when a band member jumped into the crowd to engage in a brief bit of crowd surfing.
It's pretty safe to say that everyone who was there worked up a good sweat since dancing was plentiful throughtout. The mirrors in the club were all steamed up, an obvious effect of such a large mass of people groovin' to a delightful set of music within the small club known as the Blind Pig. A good time indeed; one that is not to be missed out on if Antibalas rolls through your berg anytime soon.
This is a large group, I counted 10 people on stage, a small stage within a small venue. I was wondering how they would all fit and, well, they managed to do so by just cramming real close to each other. At one point, they even had a guest sax player onstage, an original member of the group who is now a member of a local group named Nomo.
Man did these guys jam! They were pretty much great from start to finish, although my sister-in-law Amanda thought that the song "Who is this America?" went on a bit too long. I'd have to agree and it's not surprising since that I find the studio version of the song to be the same way.
The highlight of the show was definitely the song "Indictment", which had a definitively harder-edged sound live than the studio version. Stuart Bogie began yelling out the usual indictments of the Bush administration, then let audience members yell out names of others who should be indicted. He was astute enough to point out that we didn't want to engage in double jeopardy when an audience member yelled Donald Rumsfeld's name after Stuart had already indicted him. At least I thought that was funny. During this tune was also when a band member jumped into the crowd to engage in a brief bit of crowd surfing.
It's pretty safe to say that everyone who was there worked up a good sweat since dancing was plentiful throughtout. The mirrors in the club were all steamed up, an obvious effect of such a large mass of people groovin' to a delightful set of music within the small club known as the Blind Pig. A good time indeed; one that is not to be missed out on if Antibalas rolls through your berg anytime soon.
posted by freeman at 10/24/2004 11:12:00 PM
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