MICHAEL MANTEL Spearhead was a favorite at SnoCore’s Wiltern
Theater show. Seen here dancing on stage with Alisabeth
Brown, a ceramist and mother.
By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Wiggling his hips and dancing across the stage in bare feet,
Michael Franti of Spearhead exuded the kind of enthusiasm that
makes live shows worthwhile.
At Friday’s SnoCore Icicle Ball concert at the Wiltern,
Spearhead’s set was exuberant and energetic, making it the
high point of the four acts that performed that night. Sometimes
singing, mostly rapping, Franti showed he is a remarkable performer
in addition to being a talented rapper.
His energy spilled over into the audience, which was transformed
into a tumultuous sea of jumping and dancing viewers. At one point,
Franti pulled a young woman from the crowd in front of the stage
and started dancing with her. He was moving and spinning her so
fast she had a hard time keeping up, but the gesture, one of
unadulterated fun, fit right in with the rest of Spearhead’s
performance.
Following sets by Saul Williams and Blackalicious,
Spearhead’s songs seemed apolitical by comparison. While
Franti poked fun at audience members who would criticize the lack
of political content in his lyrics, he also couldn’t help
himself from editorializing on the war on terrorism.
“You can bomb the world to pieces but you can’t bomb
it to peace,” he sang in one acoustic number.
Messages of peace were also found in Saul Williams’ set,
which opened the show. His songs were often political and delivered
in a far angrier style.
Declaring that he didn’t want anyone killed in his name,
Williams prowled the stage and threw his arms in the air in his
trademark aggressive delivery style. His band often improvised,
recalling its ultra-underground beginnings.
Unfortunately Williams’ 7:30 set time was so early that
the Wiltern was less than a third full. Those that came too late
missed a great show. Williams’ lyrics and his band (a
drummer, electric guitarist, electric cellist and bassist) created
a driving sound that propelled the powerful songs.
Blackalicious, who performed next, also delivered a forceful
set. Frontman Gift of Gab led the group of rappers and backup
singers in a fast-paced verbal and rhythmic assault.
The group lived up to its reputation as one of the best
underground rap ensembles around. In addition to tightly rhymed
lyrics, the performance was marked by the amazing imitation skills
of Radioactive. Recreating the sound of a turntablist for much of
the show, and Louis Armstrong (complete with trumpet), a robot, a
bouncing ball and numerous other objects living and dead at other
intervals, Radioactive was always dead-on.
In fact, the only let-down of the evening was headliner Karl
Denson and His Tiny Universe. Perhaps it was just because
Spearhead, appearing directly before the jam band, was so good, but
Denson’s set was anticlimactic.
No one could question the talent of Denson and the members of
his band. Their individual talents when it came to their
instruments were impeccable.
However, many of his songs sounded too much alike, and by the
end of the five-hour concert, much of the crowd was too tired to
keep dancing. The lack of audience energy, paired with the fact
that Denson couldn’t top the performances of the groups that
opened for him, led to a lackluster end of a great show.