Antibalas Concert Review, Budos Opening at Beacon…
…and don’t forget, you can listen to the Night Train wherever, whenever, by picking up the MP3 of the first 80 minutes of Tuesday’s show for free. Control-click/right click and “save to disk” to listen to it outside the browser.
Back to business: turns out the Budos Band will be opening for Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings when they come back to New York. Another reason to make it out there for this one. That show is at the Beacon Theater on Friday, February 15. Tickets, available here, are $25-$35.
Also, just noted that Galactic will be going back on tour, but have not yet announced any NYC dates.
As I mentioned on the last show, I was lucky enough to snag tickets to Antibalas‘ sold-out show at the Southpaw in Park Slope last Saturday. Doors opened a little late, but I didn’t mind too much because the show started pretty much on time…
(The whole shebang, plus photos… well, a photo, after the jump.)
The opening band was a pleasant - indeed, a very pleasant - surprise. Ticklah, which means “completeness” or “perfection” in Hebrew, features the Antibalas keyboardist Victor Axelrod. Late last year Axelrod/Ticklah, one of the men behind “Dub Side of the Moon“, released his third album in this incarnation. It is called “Ticklah vs. Victor Axelrod” and was released on Easy Star Records. The group veers between short-form heavy rhythm afrobeat tunes showcasing Victor’s undeniable skills on the organ and electric piano (a Clav, I believe), and more straight-up reggae tunes with vocals. They drew mostly from the new release, playing “Answer Me”, “Pork Eater” and “Queen Dub.” Erin Johnson joined Ticklah for a cover of Antibalas’ “Che Che Cole”.
DJ Telekinetic Kat spun after Ticklah finished up. Before Antibalas took to the stage, the band screened a dance video by Tatiana McCabe on the side screen (a screen which, while good in theory, never seems quite able to hold people’s attention in practice…)
Antibalas took the stage in all their dozen-instrument glory. Amayo’s drums (congas?) dominated the center of the stage, and his outfit and stage presence matched their prominence (exhibit A: the photo). The band proved themselves more than capable of navigating through their extended, rhythmically complex compositions without once seeming fatigued. The audience responded in kind, bouncing and bopping - especially in the front, where I was - more and more enthusiastically as the night wore on, and their inhibitions wore off. Kudos have to go to Victor Axelrod in particular, who basically pulled double-overtime while barely seeming to break a sweat. Nick Movshon’s bass and Martin Perna’s baritone sax together formed what I would call the “Antibalas Bass Combo of Doom,” keeping the floor in permanent melodic vibration between Amayo’s, Chris Vatalaro’s (Drums), and Marcus Farrar’s (Shekere) more intricate beats. The band played for over an hour before taking a quick break, after which they resumed without losing an ounce of urgency. They played songs from both their newest album, “Security, and past albums: “Pay Back Africa,” “Beaten Metal,” and “I.C.E,” amongst others.
Exhibit A:
