Michael Franti & Spearhead at Barceló Grand Resort, February 16, 2018

Michael Franti & Spearhead at Barceló Grand Resort, February 16, 2018

CID Entertainment presents Playing in the Sand, featuring Michael Franti & Spearhead
Beach Stage at Barceló Maya Grand Resort
Carr. Federal Chetumal- Puerto Juárez Km. 266.3, Solidaridad, 77750 Playa del Carmen, Q.R., Mexico
9:00 PM, Friday, February 16, 2018

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

One Set

[9:03 PM lights down, band out]

[9:03 PM] Hey World (Don't Give Up Version)
[9:08 PM] The Sound of Sunshine (w/Lisa from AUD)
[9:13 PM] My Favorite Wine Is Tequila
[9:18 PM] I Got love for You
[9:24 PM] I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
[JB swaps to uke]
[9:26 PM] Say Hey (I Love You)
[JB back to guitar]
[9:32 PM] the Flower (brand new song, first time played)
[9:41 PM] ? unidentified tune, lyrics: “Wave after wave”
[9:47 PM] You're Number One (with little kid from audience)
[9:53 PM] Show Me Your Peace Sign
[10:00 PM] Summertime Is in Our Hands
[10:05 PM] We Are All Earthlings
[10:09 PM] Good to Be Alive Today
[celebration of Wedding nuptials]
[10:13 PM] Life Is Better With You
[10:20 PM] Another Brick in the Wall, pt 2
[10:24 PM] ? unidentified tune, lyrics: “Stars burn brightest in the darkest night”
[10:33 PM] Say Hey (I Love You) (repeated? or more likely I screwed up my notes…)
[10:40 PM] Stay Human 2
[10:46 PM] ? unidentified tune
[10:50 PM] Imagine (band and audience sing-along to pre-recorded accompaniment)

Finale
[10:56 PM] mash-up: Walk and Don't Look Back/Casey Jones
[11:02 PM show ends; band off, but then back out after a minute to shake hands and take selfies with eager fans (like Ting!) waiting along the rail]

Performers

Mike Blankenship: keyboards;
Jay Bowman: guitar, harmony vox;
Michael Franti: acoustic guitar, vox;
Manas Itiene: drums, harmony vox;
Carl Young: bass, harmony vox.

Special Guest (t21 only)

Mickey Hart: drums.

Notes

The first best thing to note for my experience of tonight's show was how loose tonight's crowd was: my guess is that from half to two thirds of the tour guests opted out of attending this gig. Seems kinda silly to me, but everyone's responsible for making their own calls on that count: more room for me to dance? Why thank you!!

The show seemed to be pretty much on par with previous Franti shows: the people who were into it we really into it, and the people who were new to the experience either bounced or groves or waved or sang along as the spirit moves them. I'm glad to report that most everyone up front was really enthusiastic – that always makes for a better experience!

As Franti launched into Sound of Sunshine, he made a comment about needing help from the audience, and Lisa, the girl standing to my right, went absolutely bonkers, jumping up and down, waving and yelling. That must have gotten Michael's attention, because one of the crew then motioned her towards the steps that crossed the front rail, but Lisa was so excited that she simply launched herself over the barrier and into the arms of a surprised security dude. For a moment he had a “WTF” look, but the crew guy intervened, and a minute later, Lisa was up onstage dancing and singing along with Franti. I'm sure that was a vacation highlight for her!

As the show progressed, Franti made multiple trips into the crowd to sing from small 1m x 2m (?) or 4×8' (?) riser platforms that had been set up about 10 yards out from the rail, more or less inline with the right and left PA stacks. Given that the risers were only one step higher than the sand, we couldn't really see anything when he was out there except by watching the video screens, so after his first trek out, I didn't try turning around to follow the action directly. Nothing really to see except the top of Franti's head!

On a later trip out, Michael pulled a girl up onto the platform to dance who was wearing a beautiful yellow butterfly dress, and after hearing her say that she's just gotten engaged today, he got her fiance up to, and then announced that we were going to time travel into the future in order to bless them and help celebrate their wedding. Pretty cosmic eh? Unfortunately, before we could get to that part, things got a little hijacked by a woman wearing a beach-appropriate wedding dress who announced that she had gotten married earlier today. Yeah, well, la-di-da. Way to grab the spotlight from someone else lady: your moment had already passed.

During Say hey I love you Michael called for more dancers onstage, and this time they sent the side stage VIP folks out: Oteil and his wife among them. The crew chief tried to get Mickey Hart out there too, but Mickey resisted, clinging to the lighting stanchion as if to anchor himself in place. Sissy!

Happily, for the final song of the night: a crazy mashup of the Peter Tosh/Mick Jagger collaboration, Walk and Don't Look Back and the chorus of the Grateful Dead's Casey Jones, Mickey assented to play, and he stood behind Manas' right shoulder playing that side of the trap set: Tom Tom and cymbals, while Manas played the left. The split seemed to work pretty well – maybe this is something drummers would know is trivial? – to me it seemed kind of magical how they were able to share and stay out of each other's way until the very end of the piece. Fun!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!