Michael Franti & Spearhead: A Triumphant Tonic For Tragic Souls (Live Chicago 11-8-08 Review)

Michael Franti & Spearhead: A Triumphant Tonic For Tragic Souls

Vic Theatre-Chicago, IL

November 8, 2008

By Anthony Kuzminski

Great music is enduring and incites deliberation, dialogue and reprieve. In a day and age where artists appear to be silenced by scare tactics from Clear Channel radio stations, it refreshing to see such boldness from Michael Franti and Spearhead. Carrying the torch of John Lennon, Little Steven Van Zandt, U2, Bob Dylan and the Clash, Franti evokes commanding images with his revolutionary music that invigorates your body, mind and soul. Franti’s last few albums are politically charged, but they have more to do with basic human rights and understanding than politics. Franti and Spearhead, the modern Bob Marley and the Wailers, mesmerize every audience with an interactive familiarity that reaches beyond mundane entertainment and evokes a higher power. The 1,300 souls inside the Vic Theatre in Chicago weren’t just looking for an evening of escapism, they were seeking redemption {Video Link to "Time To Go Home"}.

“We had tickets to Madison, but after last Tuesday we knew we had to come to Chicago” says the Wisconsin couple next to me. It’s Saturday November 8th and the Vic is abuzz with good vibes. Franti and Spearhead are about to hit the stage, but the crowd isn’t standing around sipping beers, but bopping to the pre-show music. The images of Chicago’s Grant Park that beamed throughout the world just days earlier were awe-inspiring regardless of your political affiliation. As I watched it my wife said to me, “what an incredible advertisement for the City of Chicago, we might just get the Olympics”. No sooner did the Wisconsin couple finish express to me the excitement in the city but Cherine Anderson came on stage. She’s a singer from Jamaica and can be heard on Franti’s grooving All Rebel Rockers disc. She expressed her love for Chicago which she had never been to “but after what I saw the other night, I told Michael I had to be here so I flew in”. After a brief warm-up set by Cherine (including a rather luminous “Redemption Song”), the lights dimmed and Spearhead took to the stage with a vociferous arrangement of “Hello Bonjour” which immediately made the GA crowd swell, ebb, churn and congeal as one. “We Don’t Stop” and the pelvis gyrating “A Little Bit of Riddim” found the crowd seduced and stoned on the sheer power of the music. The tempos are so persuasive they gave the audience rhythm, allowing them to truly be lost in the moment. During the subdued “All I Want Is You”, Franti made his way into the crowd; this wasn’t a stunt but merely an extension of who he is. His personality evokes participation, he’s not afraid of his audience, he endears himself to them and as a result, the reaction to his music is that much more fervent. Franti has never shied away from delicate topics but the way he infuses danceable beats and eternal optimism into his art is miraculous. Ultimately his songs speak directly to the human condition, it’s not geared towards the left or right, it’s aimed directly at your heart. Some concerts come to life because of the music, others because of the showmanship of the artist and some because of the crowd; they all melded at the Vic on this particular night for an enthralling experience I am struggling to put into words. The whimsical and foot stomping music proved to be an aural escape even without the affecting lyrics, it entrenched itself in your mind right from the opening moments providing a high that never dissipated.

Throughout the 150-minute show, it became evident that Franti never views his music as being complete when it’s recorded; it’s merely a first draft. If you are only aware of Michael Franti and Spearhead from their records, you are missing the bigger picture. Each song has a spirited and imaginative arrangement that opens up in concert. “Sometimes” was earnestly performed in a solemn acoustic arrangement allowing the song to find a new skin. Even in the evening’s quieter moments, he still has a spell on the crowd, which was illuminated moments later in stadium ready hands-to-the-air “Everybody Deserves Music”. Franti gushed with confidence and began to clap and the crowd followed with a religious fervor that erupted with such a physical release that bordered on an exorcism, purging the body and mind of our stress and troubles. The chiming progression of “Hey World (Remote Control)” found the physical momentum kicking up a gear on this embracing love song. While the flipside “Hey World (Don’t Give Up)” found the crowd to be respectful and attentive. The world-weary solemn prayer seeks reaffirmation in the world and one’s faith. “East to the West” is politically charged but the tuneful harmony cuts through and allows a ray of light to beam through the clouds. People need to understand the nature of the world’s problems but they also need a security blanket to make them feel safe. One may view the themes as pedestrian, but in the last decade I’m not sure if I could not take notice of anything that calms the senses and makes you feel like you’re not alone. Artists strive to strike a nerve with their audience in the hope they can have a personal dialogue over the course of their careers. Franti aims on not just a personal level, but on an expansive worldwide one. He yearns for not just a connection but peaceful understanding as well.

The vibe of the show was dreamlike and each meditative poem came to life on the concert stage with the camaraderie brotherhood of Spearhead providing the soundtrack to the overriding themes. The sunny melody of “People In The Middle”, the la-la prayer of “I’ve Got Love For You” and the soldiering “Everybody Ona Move” found the band expanding their boundaries framed by boogie beats in sync with the hearts of their audience. “I’ve Got Love For You” (written for his son) began as a reflective acoustic ballad but it found the band shedding their skin and walloping the audience with an excoriating version. The revolutionary poet rallied on the thundering and aggressive “Yell Fire” and was executed as a device of peace and hope and they even threw in a dash of AC/DC’s “Back In Black” for good measure. If there was anything I was surer of than the volcanic fervor onstage, was that Franti’s message was being heard. The crowd was so physically raucous, I thought the floor was going to give out and this was before the walls began to crumble as the band tore through their infectious beats of “Barack Obama” aka “The Obama Song” (now available on iLike as a download). The music was so reactionary and permeating that it could have been entitled “Sarah Palin” or “Rod Blagojevich” and the crowd would have found it equally exhilarating and stirring. The entire twenty-five song set was performed with an unbridled determination as if every song was the night’s finale. The versions of these songs on record are intense and thought provoking, but in concert they become communal hymns of hope that break down barriers and reaffirm your faith make you believe in the ability to heal.

The world of music has so many unique elements that define it; sexuality, harmony, melody, grooves, beats, guitars and most importantly…spirituality. I used to believe that U2 had the spirituality market cornered, but Michael Franti and Spearhead (especially with his last two albums Yell Fire and All Rebel Rockers) may stand atop of the mantle now. While Franti ardently sung “Nobody Right, Nobody Wrong” it struck me what a divine and difficult balance his job is. He gently educates his audience while simultaneously making you aware of the world’s horrors. Their music provides and provokes an emotional release and beneath it all is one underlying theme; hope. The best music in the world involves you, makes you ponder life’s mysteries and maybe…just maybe…makes you want to be a better person. If nothing else, Franti and Spearhead’s music reminds me of what a truly blessed life I have. The lyrics are laced with life lessons that would make Oprah proud and Dylan gape with envy. There was an undercurrent of joy in every one of the one-hundred fifty-minutes of the performance at the Vic Theatre. The evening came to a triumphant and ebullient close with the “Say Hey (I Love You)” as the crowd chanted the chorus over and over as their gleaming smiles lit up the room as the audience let their release be heard. Life throws unexpected obstacles in front of you, but in the end, the audience felt whole once again and full of hope that tomorrow will be better than today. I walked into the concert expecting to be entertained, I walked out grateful to be alive. When was the last time you could say that about a concert?

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

Michael Franti & Spearhead: "Say Hey (I Love You)"