The Crowd

I was invited by the folks at Red Bull Sound Clash to cover this event (I felt so special!) I arrived early almost falling l to my death on the ice…I shoulda worn better shoes…I headed in past 2 or 3 stragglers still tryin’ to scrounge for extra tickets.

At first, when I heard a couple of days before the show that it was Sold Out I was like…there Boston goes with another marketing ploy…geez. But oh was this not the case.

Fortunately at the door the line to get in went uncommonly quickly. Dan the press list guy gave me my pass and stuff and I headed upstairs to the “VIP area” in the balcony. Now I thought I was all special with my green bracelet, my silver Red Bull bracelet and pass and was ready to show whomever was mannin’ the stairs that I was sooo “in”, but uh, there was nobody at the steps and it was very confusing as to where the heck I was suppos’d to be so VIP. And I guess errrrrbody was “press” because the whole place was hella packed!! If it wasn’t for Eli of Soul Clap your girl wouldn’t have had standing room. Thanks so much Eli!! I heart you.

By 9 p.m. above is what the crowd looked like and stayed like ’til the last finale. I did see a few familiar faces one off-the-radar Maureen -all up in the front row. Girl, where have you been?? G. Valentino- Happy Birthday mayne….! The crowd was well…as Fab! Fashion Correspondent Chanelle would say…”lackin’ in melanin” Most wore jeans and T’s showin’ a little flair with a Afghan scarf or B-Boy caps and nerd glasses and preferred a brewsky as opposed to a martini, but you know. I rolled wit it. Eventhough know your girl in a dress and some heels -they were low - even at a Roots concert, your girl stay fab! boo. Our surrounding crowd was friendly and invited us to rock out. 

The VIP status must have caused short-term memory loss about the State of Massachusetts anti-smoking laws both of cigarettes and the ganja…second hand smoke kills y’all…if our spot wasn’t so good I would have passed on that scene and “security “was too busy watchin’ the show to really regulate. *SMH 

Host Akrobatik

Our Host/MC for the evening was none other than Akrobatik - who described for the audience how this Sound Clash thing was gonna go down. The schedule of events was a warm up then four rounds of “battle” based on various challenges and themes.

Now here I gotta comment on Antibalas - I had never heard of the band before they showed up on the flyer for The Sound Clash. They came on the stage like the United Nations. Based out of Brooklyn New York they had Latino, African, Asian, Caucasian…and all of that culture gives them a crazy styles from the lead singer’s tribal painted face and glittered cuff pants, to the percussionist and vocalist’s decidedly called dread-hock (dreads in the style of a Mohawk). What a visual…For their warm up it became very apparent that this group embraced all of their cultural heritages, the lead singer sang in his native tongue, of which the audience didn’t recognized, but still followed in call back form. Music unites the world y’all. Music unites the world.

To start this party off DJ Palmer- please correct me if I got it wrong - kicked off the first round with TV show themes that the bands had to put their own spin on. First song - The Cheers theme - you know the Bostonians went crazy on that one. In my opinion Antibalas killed that theme, bringing in their calypso, brassy feel. Next was the Jefferson’s theme, where I think The Roots held to their jazzy style with a splash of New Orleans which suited them well. Next was the Night Ryder theme…Antibalas again killed it…I think on the faster songs, Antibalas was better at keeping tempo, maybe it is that they have more members in their group, or what have you, but still…kilt it.

Antibalas

Round 2 - The Take Over
Akrobatik described the Take Over as the round where the bands really have to know each others music. One band would begin one of their own songs, the other band was to finish it out.  This round was a bit harder to judge as I really had no idea who Antibalas was until last night…but they did a great job pickin’ up The Roots songs, can’t say if The Roots did the same.

Round 3 - Style Round
Kinda self-explanatory, DJ Palmer hit ‘em with a style and each band had to give their own interpretation. Styles were swing, jazz and gospel - During the jazz session Antibalas threw in a drum session that made me say I think The Roots are holdin’ back a bit here. They came back a lil’ bit with the Gospel theme by incorporating “Hot Music”.

The Roots

Round 4 The Joker
This Round Akrobatik invited the bands to go all out, bring out all the stops including a surprise special guest.

 

BostonFab!, Chip, Fab! Friend Jax

The Roots attempted to make a come-back with “You Got Me” - which I have deemed The Boston Promoter Theme Song…y’all know you need to dedicate the song to your boo…stop frontin’…and I did rock the heck outta that song! OMG!! Although the lady who sang the hook did a good job, she was no Erika Badu or Jill Scott. And the surprise guest was an older jazz Bostonian y’all will have to hit the comment box to lemme know who he was I think we all were surprised by the selection. Aren’t y’all The Roots? I most assuredly did not recognize the man…but he was jammin’ !!

“Biggest Boss” Chip Greenridge crashed our jam session for a few photo ops and introductions. You know I “heart” you too, Chip.

The Finale

This event was probably one of the greatest underground shows I have witnessed in a very long time. It gave the feel of summer mega concerts like Lollapalooza but had the intimacy of drum circles of the West Coast. The mere concept of something like this was not only entertaining, but a level of creativity and artistry few have seen. The energy and unconvential styles of these two bands, made them complimentary match. The camaraderie and mutual respect shined through in their stellar performances and elicited awe at their humbleness in unsolicited applause. 

Things that I would’ve changed in the organization of the event, though I sincerely appreciate the invite to cover it - if you’re going to have a press area, truly make it a designated press area. Fighting through other VIPs was seriously annoying. Also it was notable how much less security was around at this event than others that happen at the Roxy…I’m jus sayin’…. more effort paid to diversify the event would have added to the experience as well.

For the music quality alone this was a hands down A+ event. I’ll be googling Antibalas for their next show.