Michael Franti & Spearhead

It was a crisp fall night that kicked off the first annual New Noise Santa Barbara, a three-day music and digital media conference.  One of the festival’s stand-out acts and headliners was Michael Franti & Spearhead.

Donning black and orange patent Nikes, a turquoise blue hoodie with "dream catcher" graphic and a t-shirt that said “legalize gay,” American rapper, Murs opened the show.

Murs

This Los Angeles musician’s name is actually an acronym standing for “Making Underground Raw Shit”.  His platform is peace, love, unity & having fun, and his unique dreadlocks were even the topic of one of his songs.  Murs (pronounced “Murse”) rapped confidently while his DJ spun disc behind him, and he even took a song request from the crowd.  The small turnout of dedicated fans dug the performance, especially when he changed a song lyric to “I’m in Santa Barbara and I got a few fans”.

Cherine Anderson

Coming all the way from Kingston, Jamaica, dancehall/reggae vocalist, Cherine Anderson, took the stage with a solo of “Redemption Song.”  Not only has she been touring the US and Australia with Franti, she’s featured on the reggae-fusion, smash single “Say Hey (I Love You)”.  Cherine has been called that female artist “with the potential to surpass reggae audiences and reach masses.” Backed by Franti’s band, Spearhead, she warmed up the crowd singing and yelling “who came to dance?!” During “Ring the Alarm,” she pulled a young guy up on stage with her while he showed the crowd his “white guy dance moves.” Cherine joked with him, “are you ready to go back to Kingston with me?”

After a few more songs, Michael Franti came out to join Cherine and Spearhead, and the theatre quickly filled with cheers. “I want to see you all jump up and down!” he yelled, and that’s exactly what happened for the rest of the night.

Franti is all about audience interaction. With favorites like “Everybody Ona Move,” “All I Want Is You” and “Hey Now Now” there’s no stopping the skankin’ crowd. This was his second performance in recent years, and Franti obviously likes Santa Barbara. While singing from his new album, he commented, “Santa Barbara has amazing sunsets, even from the freeway!”

One lucky blond got a kiss, and five other fans were pulled on stage as Franti and gang belted “Yell Fire.”  Two were given guitars (not plugged in) and allowed their moment in the spotlight to play air guitar during a cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”  Another guy, Charlie, was invited up because of his cool beanie, and he joined Franti with “I Got Love For You.” And a couple of 5 or 6-year-old girls got to dance around and sing on stage as well.

Somewhere, we heard covers of “Tainted Love” and even “Billie Jean,” complete with a barefoot moonwalk. Franti closed with top-ten single, “Say Hey (I Love You),” their first top-ten in fifteen years together.
A rare occurrence, I must say I loved that this show at the Arlington was general admission; it definitely enhanced the fun for us all.