This Week in the Mercury
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Live Review / Let's Talk About... Antibalas and Economics
Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 6:41 PM
Antibalas were phenomenal last night. The 11-piece band played for almost three hours and through two rousing encores. It got me thinking, only in the most abstract and detached way, about what a gift it must've been when Fela Kuti played every night of the week at his Shrine in Lagos. And for much longer—the concerts often went on until the sun came up. I thought about it and could feel, if just for a moment, how incredible a resource it must've been to have that great cleansing opportunity with such regularity. I say so because listening, dancing, and sweating to Afrobeat is like church. With results.
The length of the show—and the movement inspired by it—was cathartic and spiritual for everyone, the band included. They were enthralled by the audience response. Before beginning the second encore, bass saxophonist Martin Perna explained how the show almost didn't happen. "We almost had to cancel this show two weeks ago because only five tickets had been sold." In the end, Berbati's was near capacity.
But it got me thinking about two things:
1.) If you can, buy tickets early as possible. Make sure the band knows they're wanted.
2.) In the diminishing music economy, big bands like the Antibalas become less viable. Cutting down a revenue stream (record sales) makes it really difficult to sustain an 11-piece band. In our interview Perna said that the band had been doing "full-time work for part-time pay" for years, and that after the splits, their manager made more than any individual band member. Lack of earning power also helped force a lot of members out of New York. The only ones who could afford to stay were those who worked full-time in the Fela! musical.
Just something to chew on. And a bit sad, because goddamn, there's nothing quite like a big fucking band ripping things up in a small club.
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