Friday, November 21, 1997
Drugstore "Cowboy"
MUSIC: British group Jamiroquai draws 6,000 to Los Angeles
concert
By Trinh Bui
Daily Bruin Contributor
Something jazzy swept into Los Angeles Wednesday night,
something dancy, luring six thousand nubile bodies to Universal
Amphitheater, and something smooth fused it all together into one
giant party.
That something was the English funk-aholics known as Jamiroquai.
After an exhausting 14 month tour of duty, the boys from Britain
played it one more time on their final stop to the delight of the
packed theater.
On the road for their third major label release, Jamiroquai
finally broke through the fickle American market with "Traveling
Without Moving." The usually eco-politically charged Jamiroquai
left most of the heavy stuff out of the latest album but
reincorporated those views during the two hour set.
Rap act The Pharcyde started the night’s groovefest with some
home grown American rappin’ and rollin.’ With a tight opening set,
Pharcyde mixed a nice bag of R&B hooks with aggressive urban
lyrics. With a charged and ready-to-go crowd at their disposal,
Jamiroquai swaggered onto stage. Technically, Jamiroquai is
considered a band, but in reality, Jamiroquai’s soul, energy, and
spirit lives within the band’s front-man Jay Kay. His charismatic
persona rippled across the concert hall as he sauntered on stage
dressed up in a rainbow zigzag poncho and oversized sky cap.
Like a little kid on a sugar high, Kay ignited the crowd with
his patented footloose-meets-electric boogaloo dance moves. His
arms and legs kicked and jammed in every which way for the first
two cuts, both from their first album, "Emergency on Planet Earth."
The mood of the night revolved around the repetitive H’s – getting
high, being high, and staying high. Kay, a strong advocate and
personal friend of Mr. Marijuana, spoke freely of smoking joints
and egging the crowd on to do the same before ripping into the
sweet sounding "Space Cowboy," a song appropriately about pot.
The smell of contrabands filled the air as everyone seemed to be
lighting up and the ones that didn’t got their fair share of a
secondary high. Pity goes out to all the recovering pot fiends in
attendance that night. Jamiroquai’s live version of "Cowboy" was
drenched with energy and funk that was absent on the lethargic
album track. The melodies flowing out of the speakers radiated
coolness, along with dope bass lines that clung to the jiving
bodies.
The never-ending dancing machine Jay Kay kept up with the music,
busting out with moves Michael Jackson might find worthy of
cribbing. The care-free spirit strengthened with each song and
spilled over with songs like "Cosmic Girl" and their biggest U.S.
hit "Virtual Insanity," which by that time got every ass in the
house shaking and bumping.
Peppering their show with some mellow moments, Jamiroquai went
tribal and brought to the stage Wallis, the didgeridoo player. The
didgeridoo, an ancient Aboriginal instrument with an oboe-like
sound, provided some cool-down time before the band tore into
incredibly free jamming, good time renditions of "High Times"and
"Traveling Without Moving," which easily punctuated the night’s
performance. Surprisingly, Jamiroquai didn’t perform "Half the Man"
or "Light Years," two of their best songs.
To say the least, Jay Kay proved to be more than a mere singer.
Kay’s showmanship and English wit added another layer of
entertainment. The between-song banter was as entertaining as the
songs themselves. He transformed the stage into his own living
room, laying on his back and lounging around the stage like it was
a huge sofa. Kay’s stage antics went beyond the typical cursing and
ranting; he also joked with the pit and play acted for the people
in attendance. It was as much his energy and charm that put the
emotion in the songs as the melodies and music. Jamiroquai made it
apparently clear that funk-jazz didn’t end with Stevie Wonder but
is still living large through the funky "Space Cowboy."Sony
Music
The hit British band Jamiroquai performed at the Universal
Amphitheater on Wednesday night.