I am almost ashamed to admit that I only discovered Michael Franti when he was the warm up act for John Mayer earlier this year. A very wise friend told me not to miss the opening act, that the price of the ticket would be worth it just to see him. To say my friend was right and that I was blown away is an understatement. Never had I seen a virtually unknown act (at least to me) have the entire sold out audience of GM Place in the palm of his hand. I did feel like I’d already gotten my money’s worth before John Mayer had even taken the stage!
I had never heard any of his music before but it was so infectious you couldn’t help but get pulled in. I would have a difficult time naming his genre, but I guess I’d have to describe it as a mix of reggae, hip hop and rock. His music is upbeat, fun, perfect for summer time listening. When he said he’d been coming to Vancouver for over 20 years and had performed everywhere from the Folk Fest to my old haunt Club Soda, all I could think was “how could I have missed him”? How could you not love this long, tall, barefoot, dread-locked performer? A new fan was born and I vowed never to miss an opportunity to see him again.
In the months since I have been cruising his website and the more I learned about Michael Franti and what he stands for, the more devout a fan I became. When I heard he was coming to the Vogue Theatre on July 24th I was thrilled to be seeing him in such an intimate venue, although he’s the type of performer that can make a stadium like GM Place feel intimate.
Arriving a little late we missed most of the warm up act, which at first didn’t concern me, but then I remembered how sorry I would have been to miss the warm up act at John Mayer. From what I did see of KO I thought he was pretty cool.The crowd was very in to him and being the sole performer on stage with only recorded beats to accompany him, he had the huge stage presence needed to pull off a good show.
But then, it was Franti time, and what a time we had. Michael loves his fans and his fans love him, it was one big party. He regularly invites people up on stage to dance and play guitar, even if they’re not terribly good at either. When he doesn’t have fans on stage to party he leaves the stage to party with them, not just directly in front of the stage, but even up in the balcony. As I learned from his website, Michael has strong political views and promotes peace in any way he can. In concert though, he’s all about the music and having a good time. If you want an evening full of fun, check your troubles and B.S. at the door and go to a Franti show. You will dance and sing and you’ll walk out smiling, and if you’re anything like me you’ll leave an even more devout fan than when you walked in.
