The nation’s capital, home of the pollies, was a fitting location for everyone’s favourite barefooted outspoken hippy Michael Franti to conclude his Australian Yell Fire! tour.
The ANU Refectory was given a warm welcome by support acts Blue King Brown. Promptly arriving on stage at 9pm, Michael Franti and Spearhead wasted no time delivering their socially and politically conscious lyrics, opening with the first track Time to Go Home from current album Yell Fire! One of the fourteen tracks written following Franti’s well documented visit to Iraq, Israel and Gaza Strip, Time to Go Home was a fine example of the album Franti described as “songs about love and life, songs that make them want to dance.”
The tracks from Yell Fire! continued throughout the first half hour and had the crowd jumping from the get-go. Hands in the air, peace signs galore was the response to the title track, East to the West, Sweet Little Lies, One Step Closer to You and I Know I’m Not Alone - a song in which Franti shares how his anti-Iraq war stance had been received during tours overseas. The crowd eagerly sang along: Yell Fire!/ Oh-e-o-e-o-e-oh/Throw your hands up to his high-energy blend of rock, reggae and funk. The room quickly became a sweaty love-fest as the aroma of ‘ganja baby’ lingered in the air.
There was the prerequisite Franti opine between songs. Quote of the evening is undeniably this pearl of wisdom – “Freedom of speech is not as important in this day and age as the freedom to listen to one another” – before Franti proved his point with the jungle beat Jamaican-sounding Hello Bonjour, which had every foot in the crowd tapping and every dialect chanting.
Throughout the impressive two and half hour set, Franti demonstrated why he is much loved and respected. He held a commanding presence on stage and despite a marathon set showed no signs of tiring. Besides the poignancy and relevance of his lyrics -which champion causes from peace and equality to religion and other social issues – his catch-cries of “Power to the Peaceful”, “Stay Human” and “Freaky and Free” helped to take the edge off the serious messages underlying his recent releases. Chanted by a gleeful audience, they created a high level of warm and fuzzy. There was never a dull moment, as anthem after anthem was pumped out – ranging from the sublime acoustic version of Bomb the World, the sacred freaks united ditties Stay Human and What I Be. At one point Franti looked out over a sea of waving lighters and cell phones to Light Up Your Lighter. The encore ended much anticipation with the ever-popular Everyone Deserves Music and concluded with the ironic but appropriately elated We Don’t Stop. The crowd was left wanting – and clearly those on stage were too. By way of compromise, Franti promised the crowd to return to Canberra in 2007 and came down offstage into the sweaty love-den to receive handshakes and kisses. Power to the Peaceful.
