What A Man

Well said Ian, that show was unbelievably dope, and though I would agree that we all could all use a little more Bonobo in our lives (he should have played 'til the curfew), I have to say what we got was a hitlist of cuts from all of his albums. The fact that we got Dinosaurs and Sugar Rhyme (off Animal Magic) early in the show tells a lot about his song choices, and in no way did the show fall off from there as he jumped right into the heavy hitters Kiara and Kong before bringing out the beautiful Andreya Triana. Without a doubt she stole the audience's hearts from her bandleader, especially mine, with her soulful renditions of tracks from Black Sands. Most impressive was her ability to take over the tracks Bajka sings on from Days to Come and make them hers. It's hard to take another singer's tracks and own them like she did, especially trying to fill Bajka's shoes after her spirited perfomance last time Bonobo came to town, but she came through and sent chills down my spine during Between the Lines.

Enough about her and her loveliness because I could ramble all day about it, so let's turn to the man himself, Simon Green, the master Brit here to recolonize American hearts with the magic of electronic music. To avoid the burden of repitition, I'll leave out specifics about lighting, stage presence and all that jazz, but I would like to congratulate Mr. Green on being the man we should all aspire to. I've got mad respect for anyone with the skills and the balls to go on stage in front of countless strangers and play their music, but with most producers the show is always self-centered. Halfway through the first song of the encore I realized that Simon wasn't even on stage, he had stepped back, given his bass to his four-eyed doppelganger, and left the band do the rest. What a man to know the fans already love his music and to give the glory to someone else. Not many musicians are comfortable and humble enough to do something like that and that lifts the man up my book. I mean, I already loved the music he puts out enough to go see any Bonobo show in the area, but it makes me even more willing to knowing he understands the dynamics of a damn good show. At once a producer and a band, Bonobo has a unique place in the electronic music world, but Green parting words to the crowd "Thanks, we are Bonobo" exemplified his evolution from a solo musician to something more, something much doper.