Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: willo on March 30, 2006, 01:52:31 AM
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Wow!
Tonight I watched the Remember Shakti tour performing at the Sage in Gateshead. Simply put, it was one of the best gigs I've ever been to (and I've been to a fair few!). Obviously John McLaughlin was on fine form, blazing his way through odd time signatures and strange harmonies; but what really surprised me and my friend were the other musicians involved too. Obviously Zakir Hussein was playing some crazy rhythms on his tabla, but there was this mandolin player who had some absolutely insane chops. There was another percussionist who was really great too. There was also a singer who came on and he had just a beautiful voice but also an incredibly scary technique - he was singing semiquavers for at least a couple of minutes. Incredible stuff, I mean, I'm still trying to get my head around it all - for instance, you had McLaughlin playing something hideously complex on guitar then skip a few bars forward and the mandolin guy would copy it note for note, or play a furious passage of incredible techinical ability and the vocalist would syncopate his vocal passage harmonically and rhythmically exactly to the mandolin. Scary!
There was also a lot of humour involved; you could tell the guys were enjoying themselves and pushing each on to play better and better. Zakir even burst into a small excerpt from The Pink Panther at one stage!
What was so refreshing about this gig, though, was the humility of the performers. Despite the fact that all 5 performers were absolute virtuosos, they were all more than happy to encourage others to play solos, and you never really felt that they were merely showing off for the sake of it.
I think they are playing a few more dates around Europe - I'd definitely recommend the show. My friend, who doesn't even know any Shakti, came away saying it was one of the best gigs he's ever been to. For comparison's sake, I went to see Vai on the Real Illusions tour and by the end of it I was checking my watch. Here, Shakti came on and played for 2 hours straight and the time flew by. Whether or not you like the music Shakti play, this is the spirit that music should be played in - 5 virtuosos sitting around a plain stage, simply playing music with energy and soul...proof for me that it is more important to let your music do the talking than all the laser shows and mirror finish guitars in the world!
Highly highly highly recommended! :D
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I liked Mahavishnu Orchestra, but not shakti, I'd like to see them though.
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Yeah, I felt the same way too before I went to see them. I had the Shakti record but never listened to it much, preferring to listen to Mahavishnu and the solo stuff. I went though because it's John McLaughlin and to me, that's too good to miss. I had a great time though, and I've since been spending more time with the Shakti stuff and getting a new appreciation for it :D