When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. ~Hunter S. Thompson
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| Irie Sol and Duncan Ninja backstage at the State |
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| Written by John Abbott | ||||||||
| Saturday, 20 March 2010 17:10 | ||||||||
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Thursday night brought a Freak and Geek quorum to Eau Claire for Volume One's, Backstage Concert Series of music. Held entirely on the stage of the State Theater, its a great concept for a venue. Rather than walking in the front door, across plush carpets, past stone and oak, and into padded seats; you instead go around the corner, down the ally and enter through the stage door. The lighting back stage, spotlights raking up the interior brick walls, intensifies the roughness, the ally like feel. It is the polar opposite of the effect the front door instills. But, what it does do, is makes you part of the club. Part of the family of players who have the rights to enter via the stage door.
It was a quiet night this past Thursday. Maybe it was the news we would be waking up in the morning to the return of winter, but it was a very small crowd in attendance. Perhaps only 20 in the audience when the music started. Swelling to a peak early in the headlining act, and dwindling again by the final song of the night. The audience was much younger on this night of the series than usual. Not surprising given the bands. Headlining, Irie Sol, a funky reggae, hip-hop influenced band. With special guest, Duncan Ninja, a band that can best be described as an eclectic mix. 
Jon Lanctin plays trumpet with Irie Sol while wandering the crowd.
Irie Sol, the headline act, was good. Don't get me wrong, but Irie Sol lacked life on stage. The crowd was small. The crowd energy was low and Irie Sol is a band that needs to feed off crowd energy. Thursday night the pickins was slim, energy-wise. And one other thing, a sort of back handed compliment now working against them; when you see Irie Sol in a bar, they are one of the few bands that travel with a dedicated sound person. She always seems to be working as hard as the musicians. It makes a difference. You see Irie Sol in a bar, they already sound pretty great. They don't get the boost some other bands get at the State Theater. But, let me get back to the good part. Because there was good. Either through their originals, which not surprisingly show off the band's reggae style. Or, a Stevie Wonder, or Led Zeppelin cover, painted over into jamaican funk. The music they perform is great. Exciting, even if it was a little lower energy than usual. I love that the musicians come out in the crowd. I love when they combine reggae with a rap/hip-hop style. Irie Sol is worthy of seeing, catch them in a bar and you will have a wildly fun time. 
Duncan Ninja on stage at the State Theater March 2010
I go to see live music, because I love live music. I write these show reviews because I have a poor memory and hate accidentally seeing a band I didn't like, twice. …And, because it's not too much of a pain to write them. If I was really on the ball though, doing these reviews like its my work, I would have my video camera rolling at the beginning of every song, keep it rolling on a song I like. God, that's so much like work though. And I'm there for fun. But, I miss out on capturing really cool stuff on tape. Like when Corey Cunningham launched into an Eminem style rap, I almost thought I recognized the song, but when I got home I couldn't remember enough to allow google to be my friend. Very, very cool though. I would have had to go someplace far more dangerous, to have heard better live. [Ed: The song was I Wish by Skee-Lo -- Thanks again Eric]
Talking to peripheral Freak and Geek, Eric, after the show, he expressed some disappointment that Irie Sol didn't do more of it's hip-hop reggae style. Total agreement there. I think they expected to need to tone back their music to accommodate the mix of the crowd. As it turned out, the small turnout was a lot of fans. We would have loved it. Also, talking about Duncan Ninja later, Eric was quite a fan, for the one thing I find troubling about them. His cup was half full, he loves the unexpected element in their play list. Mine, half empty, never knowing if they will play Perry Como or Beastie Boys next, I find stressful. Not that I am disappointed with either, once it arrives. 
Larry Gates at the Haymarket Grill March 2010, "No, no, Gator, we're over here!"
Ok why is it there is always something to complain about? I dunno, but here I am. Front row, I am sitting nearly center stage, the rest of the audience was behind me, over my left shoulder. Gator spent most of his time with his back towards all of us. Granted, he is doing some shift-o change-os once in a while. To go from, sounds like piano, to sounds like sax, all on a telecaster, but… Hello! Hello? Remember us? We're only the AUDIENCE! I have seen lots of audiences ignore the musicians. I had never seen it reversed. Irie Sol is available on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/iriesolreggae and their music is available on iTunes. Duncan Ninja is also on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/duncanninja Hits: 640 Comments (2)Subscribe to this comment's feedWrite comment
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| Last Updated on Saturday, 27 March 2010 01:51 |
