(Above: Michael Franti and Spearhead perform at the Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland.)
By Joel Francis
The Kansas City Star
Michael Franti and Spearhead were just starting their new song, “The Sound of Sunshine” when the first drops of rain appeared. By the guitar solo they were landing regularly. At the end it was obvious the rain wasn’t moving on.
The building storm intensified “Yell Fire,” the politically charged next number, but Franti was undeterred, worming his way through the crowd, getting wet with the masses that filled two-thirds of Crossroads to see him on a Sunday night. As Franti made his way back onstage he pulled some musicians from the crowd who lead an impromptu jam on “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” When the song ended Franti’s voice could be heard, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Michael Franti spent nearly as much time in the crowd as he did onstage. (Photo by Travis Beye.)
“Those of you in front, turn around,” Franti’s voice boomed, and there he was, standing on something in the middle of the lawn, acoustic guitar around his neck, water dripping from his dreadlocks, tattooed skin glistening. “Hey Hey” was already a pretty infectious song, made all the more so by the troubadour standing among us. As everyone sang along, Franti worked in a few bars of “Singing in the Rain” and how great the weather was in Kansas City.
That is it about water falling from the sky that makes every note hit deeper? Couples dance closer, hands clap harder and voices sing louder. The rain erodes social boundaries, arbitrary delineations of Our Group and Their Group and baptizes everyone in the communal experience of music.
The encore found everyone in the band down in the pit with the crowd, banging away at their instruments as if oblivious to the relationship between water and electricity. With the audience packed around, joining in on vocals and percussion, for a moment it almost felt like summer camp.
The first half of the concert couldn’t compare to the hour that developed in the downpour. Backed by a six-piece band, Franti delivered old favorites, like an acoustic arrangement of “Sometimes” that allowed for several solos, and new songs like the current single “Shake It Shake It,” which found everyone doing just that. Another stand-out track from the forthcoming “Sound of Sunshine” album was “Never Too Late,” a ballad about angels and life Franti wrote in the hospital while recovering from an emergency appendectomy last summer. It sounds corny, but he made it poignant.
At six feet, five inches, Franti is hard to miss, even in a chicken mask. Spearhead invaded the last song of opening act One Eskimo’s set dressed in Mexican wrestling masks. The band roughhoused around the stage and eventually hoisted the singer and bass player on their shoulders mid-song.
One Eskimo returned the favor during the final number of Spearhead’s two-hour set, appearing onstage with a sizable class of children culled from the crowd for “Say Hey (I Love You).” Spearhead’s surprise hit from last summer had everyone singing along from the first note, and Franti was happy to share the mic with the young fans onstage.
After everyone in both the elevated and ground-level audiences had their fill of singing and dancing, Franti discovered a wind-up, cymbal-playing monkey, which he happily held up to the mic and let have a solo.
A new rhythm came out of that, and Franti coaxed a boy to do the robot, much to the delight of the crowd. The rain was still coming down, but no one wanted to leave. When you’re this wet, what’s a few more drops?
Setlist: Love Don’t Wait, The Thing That Helps, Rude Boys Back in Town, All I Want Is You, Hello Bonjour, Shake it Shake It, Right On Time, Sometimes, Never Too Late, Sometimes, Everyone Deserves Music, Light Up Ya Lighter, Only Thing Missing Is You, Sound of Sunshine, Yell Fire, Hey Hey, I Won’t Leave You Alone, I’ll Be Waiting. Encore: Yes I Will, I Got Love For You, Say Hey (I Love You).
(Above: Released last summer, “Say Hey (I Love You)” is the biggest hit in Michael Franti and Spearhead’s 16-year career.)
By Joel Francis The Kansas City Star
Michael Franti’s first trip beyond the borders of the United States came when his family spent a year in Canada.
Seeing his homeland from the outside opened his eyes.
The musician has been around the world several times during his 20 years as a performer, but he has never stopped searching for new perspectives. Many of those experiences are funneled into the music he makes with the band Spearhead, which combines pop, rock, reggae, hip-hop and world influences.
“Playing music was really my first opportunity to travel,” Franti said. “Wherever I went, I would always go out and see stuff — museums, architecture, rivers, lakes, parks.”
As Franti became familiar with the larger offerings of major cities, he started seeking smaller experiences.
“The most unique experience you can have is just to have a conversation,” Franti said. “I’ve had heartfelt talks with people in parks in cities, and farmers in undeveloped countries who lay out plastic tarps to collect rainwater.”
Michael Franti is the opening act on John Mayer’s Battle Studies Tour. The two will perform at the Sprint Center in Kansas City on March 22.
Standing six and a half feet tall and sporting long dreadlocks, Franti rarely blends in with a crowd. He can often be spotted with a guitar slung over his shoulder, walking barefoot.
“I’ve carried my guitar to places with the most harsh conditions. I’m talking about famine, hunger, poverty,” Franti said. “But those people don’t want to sing about how hard life is. They want to dance and clap and sing along.”
The adopted son of a teacher and university professor, Franti formed his first band while attending the University of San Francisco. He has been fronting Spearhead, his third outfit, for 16 years. Although Franti’s medium has shifted from hard-core punk to hip-hop to reggae and pop, his lyrics have always retained a fervent, though upbeat, political bent.
In 2006, Franti took his politics to a new level when he toured the Middle East with his guitar and a movie camera. His goal was to capture the emotions of war-torn people on film and in song. Franti returned with 200 hours of footage that was edited down to the 86-minute documentary “I Know I’m Not Alone.” The music from the trip appeared on the album “Yell Fire!”
“These experiences helped me realize a political song is only as good as its ability to make people dance and move,” Franti said. “I started writing songs of upliftment, inspiration. A lot of songs are about conviction for life and rising above.”
Franti and Spearhead’s most successful song by far is “Say Hey (I Love You).” Despite being released nearly a year ago, the song has taken on a surprising second life. It has popped up on the television show “Weeds,” appeared on the “Valentine’s Day” movie soundtrack and peaked at No. 18 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.
“Say Hey” had just started to crest last summer when Franti’s appendix ruptured, sending him to the hospital and the band’s concert dates by the wayside.
“We had been touring for a while, and things were starting to blow up,” Franti said. “Suddenly I have a near-death experience, and I’m in the hospital. It was a healthy reminder that life is precious, and you have to value every second. There are several songs on the new album about the preciousness of life and how grateful I am to be able to play music.”
Continuing the trend of his previous two albums, Franti made his new record, “The Sound of Sunshine,” in Jamaica with producers Sly and Robbie. The legendary duo has worked with everyone from reggae giants Peter Tosh and Black Uhuru to Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.
“Working with Sly and Robbie is always a thrill. They are so quick to share their knowledge,” Franti said. “Every time I think a song needs a better beat, they’re the only ones I think of.”
As Spearhead worked in the studio in Jamaica, people on the street could hear the music they were making. The band could tell how well a track was working by how much it inspired the people outside.
“Jamaica is an island of contradictions,” Franti said. “It’s a tropical island, but a poor country. I could see what people were going through trying to find the light. That’s really what I was trying to write about on this album.”
One of the few places Franti hasn’t taken his music to is Haiti.
“We’ve been invited, but it hasn’t worked out,” Franti said. “We have played in East Timor, however, which is in a similar economic situation. I remember thinking when we played there, if this place ever had an earthquake, everything would crumble. There was no economic infrastructure.”
John Mayer, the headlining act on Franti’s current tour, once sang he was “waiting on the world to change.” Unlike Mayer, however, Franti says he has seen progress from his actions.
“When I first got started, I wrote a lot about the prisons in California and how much money was spent there instead of in schools,” Franti said. “Then someone asked me if I’d play in a prison, so we did that. Afterward, people would come up to me and tell me what they’ve done and how much music has helped them through that time and what they want to do to get out. I’m still getting letters from guys I played for.
“That’s why I travel with my guitar,” Franti said. “I don’t want to just sing about it, I want to be directly involved.”
An early visit to Kansas City
For all of his travels, Michael Franti will always remember Kansas City. In 1992, his political rap group the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy opened for U2.
Shortly after their concert at Arrowhead Stadium, Franti was hanging out with Bono and another band member when William S. Burroughs walked in. The Beat Generation legend was living in Lawrence at the time and was about to record an album with the Heroes.
“He came in carrying what looked like a bowling ball bag with him,” Franti said. “He drops it on the bed and it bounced like it was real heavy. Burroughs looks at us and goes, ‘I just thought you’d like to see my gun collection’ and pulls out a pistol with a barrel longer than my forearm.”
While Franti and Bono collected themselves, Franti’s bandmate Rono Tse picked up one of the weapons.
“Burroughs reaches over to him and says, ‘Give me a second here.’ He opens the chamber, dumps the bullets out and gives Rono the gun back,” Franti said. “Bono and I were talking about it later. We think he did it just for effect.”
Michael Franti timeline 1966 Michael Franti is born in Oakland, Calif., the son of an African-American father and an Irish-German-French mother. His mother puts him up for adoption because she is worried her family will not accept the baby. Franti is adopted by a couple with three biological children and one other adopted child.1986 As a student at the University of San Francisco, Franti forms his first band, the Beatnigs, an industrial, hard-core punk outfit.
1988 The Beatnigs release their only album. Their song “Television” becomes an underground success.
1990 Franti and his bandmate Rono Tse form the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. The group is known for its jazz-based samples and heavy political lyrics.
1992 The Heroes release their only album, “Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury.” The band is invited to open for U2 on its tour, which stops at Arrowhead Stadium in October.
1994 Franti forms the band Spearhead, which releases its first album, “Home.”
1997 Spearhead leaves Capitol Records after releasing two albums. Franti starts his own label, Boo Boo Wax.
1999 Franti founds the annual Power to the Peaceful music festival in San Francisco.
2000 Franti rails against the death penalty on the concept album “Stay Human.”
2003 Spearhead responds to the post-9/11 landscape with the song “Bomb the World” and the album “Everyone Deserves Music.” Franti works with reggae musicians Sly and Robbie for the first time when he hires them to remix a track.
2006 Inspired by a trip to Israel, Baghdad, the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Franti produces the anti-war film “I Know I’m Not Alone.” The trip also influences Spearhead’s album “Yell Fire!” which is produced by Sly and Robbie. In June, the band headlines on the main stage on the final day of the Wakarusa Music Festival outside of Lawrence.
2007 Franti and Spearhead make their second appearance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The group made its Bonnaroo debut in 2003 and is scheduled to perform there this June.
2008 Spearhead releases its sixth studio album, “All Rebel Rockers.” Again produced by Sly and Robbie, it is the group’s best-selling and highest-charting record to date.
2009 “Say Hey (I Love You)” is released as a single in June. Weeks later, Franti is hospitalized after his appendix ruptures. The band is forced to cancel its headlining slot at Wanderlust and several other festivals.
2010 Michael Franti and Spearhead open for John Mayer on his Battle Studies tour.
This weekend marks the first time Wakarusa will not be held at Clinton Lake near Lawrence, Kan. After establishing itself as a second-tier destination festival in 2004, Wakarusa has moved to Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Ark.
The Daily Record covered the previous four incarnations of Wakarusa. Join us now in a look back at the festival.
2005 – Wakarusa grows in its second year, offering what may be its greatest lineup to date, including Son Volt, Wilco, Neko Case, Calexico, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, String Cheese Incident and a then-unknown Matisyahu. Promoters are rewarded with a turnout of about 15,000 fans each day, doubling the inaugural turnout. Read more Wakarusa 2005 festival coverage.
2006 – The third annual Wakarusa Music Festival gets off to a sour start when music fans are greeted with highway patrol drug checks near Clinton Lake. “Narcarusa” is further sullied when it is revealed police strategically placed infrared cameras around the festival grounds to catch drug activity. Despite these setbacks, the festival once again reaches its 15,000-fan daily capacity and features the Flaming Lips, Les Claypool, P-Funk sideman Bernie Worrell, Gov’t Mule, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and back-to-back sets by Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. Read more Wakarusa 2006 festival coverage.
2007 – Security is toned-down, but Mother Nature rages with hard winds on Friday and Sunday rain during the fourth Wakarusa. Crowds are down to 12,000 fans each day, which might be a reflection of the festival’s most mediocre lineup. Michael Franti and Spearhead close out the festival and the lineup also includes Be Good Tanyas, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Widespread Panic and Ben Harper. Read more Wakarusa 2007 festival coverage.
2008 – Heavy rains capsize Wakarusa’s final festival to date at Clinton Lake. The downpour ends Friday’s sets prematurely and the swamp left inside most concert tents force fans to abandon shoes at the perimeter or in the muck. Further disappointment hits when Bettye LaVette, Dweezil Zappa and Emmylou Harris cancel performances. An return engagement with the Flaming Lips in addition to sets by Old 97s, Ben Folds, Alejandro Escovedo, members of the Meters, Ozomatli and a Friday afternoon infusion of hip hop from Blackalicious and Arrested Development still leave fans with plenty to love. Read more Wakarusa 2008 festival coverage.
(Above: An areal view of the Wakarusa Nation at Clinton Lake State Park near Lawrence, Kan. in 2007.)
By Joel Francis The Kansas City Star
Michael Franti and Spearhead, Sun Down Stage
Michael Franti brought his political party to Wakarusa Sunday night. Its platform is both progressive and accessible: share love, be honest, bring the troops home and, oh yeah, have fun.
Franti was backed by his five-piece band Spearhead, and within moments of taking the stage had the masses jumping, waving, clapping and singing on cue. The 90-minute show leaned heavily toward the group’s newest release, “Yell Fire,” and its kinetic energy rarely waned. With barely a pause between songs, Franti’s mix of dub, soul, rock and smatterings of country topped by his spoken/rapped leftist lyrics created a fervor and energy unseen in the political arena by the newest voting generation.
Spearhead’s platform was augmented by a couple of well-placed covers. A medley of “Get Up, Stand Up/Stir It Up” drew great applause, but was dwarfed by the reception for “What I Got.” The Sublime cover was wrapped around a medley of the Sesame Street theme, “The Rainbow Connection” and Cookie Monster’s trademark “C is For Cookie” that Franti said was the high point of a recent gig in San Quinten prison.
The show ended with a stunt guaranteed to put Franti’s already-high approval rating through the roof with at least half the audience when 10 topless, body-painted women joined the band onstage. It was a move no other political party would dare to attempt.
Medeski, Martin and Wood, Sundown Stage
Medeski, Martin and Wood, the most democratically named band since Crosby, Stills and Nash, opened their 80-minute set with a frenzied cacophony of mashed organ keys and frenetic drumming joined by a rock-solid bass line that didn’t let up for 20 minutes.
So much for a soft opening.
Few bands can pull this off without getting monotonous, but more than 15 years of playing hundreds of shows together annually have made the trio the tightest musical battery imaginable. Pockets of melody spring to life from improvisation before a nod of the head or flick of the wrist send the music spiraling off again.
MMW’s music is difficult to describe and impossible to classify. Suffice it to say they are one of the few groups to be greeted with open arms by the traditional fans at the Newport Jazz Festival and the jam fans at Bonnaroo.
Though they were not joined by guitarist John Scofield, who has been touring with the band, no one seemed to mind. A scan of the crowd revealed hundreds of heads locked into the band’s groove, bobbing in unison. Since the trio has no vocalist it’s as close to a sing-along as they’re likely to get.
The Greencards, Homegrown Tent
The Greencards won enough new fans with their mix of melancholy and up-tempo bluegrass music to have their visas renewed indefinitely.
The quartet’s sound split the difference between Old Crow Medicine Show and Allison Krauss and Union Station, but with Krauss’ sense of longing replacing Old Crow’s down-home humor.
Though they performed several original numbers, the absolute high point was a haunting cover of Patti Griffith’s “What You Are.” Anchored by a strummed mandolin and electric bass, singer Carol Young’s voice nailed the heartache and longing of the lyrics. The song built quietly in intensity with an acoustic guitar providing tender sympathy and touches of color from a violin. The applause from that number alone was enough to move the band through customs with no problems.
joelfrancis.com 