To Aid An_ Cage
2003-10-06 - 12:28 p.m.
SHakti
Shakti live in concert last night and the greatest show I have seen. I wish I could feel it when I'm there, but I've got that poisoned habit to keep up with and Liam did a fine job rolling those two for me. One was enough, as there was no intermission, but it took away from the night maybe, or maybe the night took away from the performance. I had a great seat, but I was alone, which is always heavy a burden. Some kid came and sat next to me and started shaking the seats and taking pictures and Kakir turned to him and mouthed 'please don't'. I was just chilling in my seat. I was incredibly over dressed, but I never get the chance to wear that stuff, so I decided to don the whole deal. John was great, but someone called out something after the first or second number asking him to turn up his gain as it was actually hard to hear. There was a moment of discomfort that stretched. He was using this great sound from his guitar that played the notes and enhanced them with a synthesised choral voicing that totally grooved me. Everybody awed me. Shrinivas with the mandolin was like a prophet to me. Salvaganesh shocked the crowd with his rhythmic drumming on that little drum. Zakir played the nicest tone from his drum and worked it into an incredibly circular beat that sort of moved in and around the standard count so that it was intensely interesting to listen to and watch the other performers clap out the signitures. Blitzed as I was, it was a superior experience. I was wanting to get autographed, some liner notes by JOhn, but I was alone and noone was waiting around back and I decided to just go home. I'll get it next time and I'll have a dat to keep me company. I bumped into Kathy and it was nice to see her. She made me remember to drop by the school this week. What else can I say about it. I wish Mikey was there, but I'll see him in New York soon enough. More Shakti concerts please. I want to fill more of my time with live performances by them. I wish I had a high tech digital recording device so I could listen to the whole concert again. They played a tune I know from another performer--Shankar, not Ravi. The mandolin held the melody I know as Shankar's voice. It was nice to hear John's Bluesy chords and interpretations fused into the mix, and Zakir had a whole bunch of drums set up for different sounds and rhythms. MORE!PEACE - Tristan
before || after
