Words By: Steve Gosselin
Photos By: Johnny Erwin
It was a beautiful night in Vancouver. Not too chill and no sprinkles of rain as the springtime Gods have been blessing us with some amazing weather thus far. The line stretching up and down Granville Street was bustling with excited concert goers waiting to get in to see their hometown heroes The Funk Hunters featuring Jurrasic 5’s Chali 2na!
Heavy bass funk grooves filled the air from the resident DJ as people trickled in. Drinks were flowing and people were glowing – literally from the use of glow props and figuratively as you could feel the anticipation from the colorfully costumed fans of the funk.
Mat the Alien hit the stage at precisely 10 o’clock and there was a light roar from the audience as they made their way to the stage. His “45 set” had an eclectic mix of funk, soul, hip-hop, world beats, tribal fusion and some classic old school hip-hop mixed with modern electronic beats. This all-vinyl set featured some small bursts of masterful scratching to blend tracks and add some life elements to his performance. The Alien warmed the crowd up beautifully as the dance floor was packed and bumpin’ by the end of his show with all hands in the air and screams of joy for the main event about to commence.
After a half hour turnover between sets an anticipatory drone filled the room, three projection screens lit up with the electrifying Funk Hunter’s logo and the crowd got louder and louder as their favorite funksters made their way to the stage. “You guys are FUNKIN CRAZY!” exclaimed Duncan Smith in response to their cheer as they set the tone for the evening opening the night with a remix of the classic House of Pain hit “Jump Around.” Everyone was jumping and yelling to the chorus like it was 1992 when the hit was in its peak.
A few pre-mixed tracks and rhymes later, Chali 2na hit the stage and the house erupted as he commanded the stage with his incredible presence. His first song “Hands Up” not only had every hand up in the air but also had girls up on shoulders and one of their shirts up on the stage before the song’s conclusion. A recurring incident: Chali showed his hidden talent in his reflexes, catching various articles of clothing throughout the night without missing a note. He mused at the obvious affection being shown but it got old fast and he used his incredible facilitative authority to shut it down quickly and respectfully.
While he dominated the stage with his affirmable frontman qualities, he also showed his audience great humility and respect for them. He extended this same respect to The Funk Hunters and the rest of the artists of the night by proposing a toast and had every drink in the air for the “Home Town Heroes – The Funk Hunters!” He would later go on to explain how “This is not my show… It’s not the Funk Hunters’ show… This is all our show!” with his hands in the air interlocking his fingers to show that the line between performer and audience has been erased, and that everyone has an equal role in this world class event.
A muddy vocal mix and poor Internet presence make it hard to give the saxophone player and the other musicians that graced the stage their due credit. They were on and off the stage tastefully as they each knew their roles and played them well in this predominantly electronic setting. It seemed as though decibel level trumped sound quality for the event, which was unfortunate as much of the instrumentation introductions were not well heard. Once the sound glitches were resolved some excellent musicianship was displayed, primarily from the saxophone with more appearances then the others was giving the crowd a vancouver saxophone lesson, although each of the players were given their moment to shine.
The Funk Hunters were gracious enough to back Chali up on some Jurassic 5 songs including “Freedom” which continued to bring the night to new heights as the momentum didn’t seem to stop picking up. Tonye Aganaba made a surprise appearance with some powerful soul and impressive rhymes to showcase brand new, never performed before, well-received, Funk Hunters songs “Sugar Love” and “Make it Bounce.” Bounce it did! Guitarist Steven Mandela had his moment to shine as frontman on a funk soul song with an impressive vocal performance that had everyone singing “I got the Funk!”
All in all the night was incredible. The Funk Hunters were relentless with their funky beats and grooves, Chali commanded the stage like no other and the night ended off with Duncan, Chali and Tonye trading verses, spitting rhymes to “That’s That, That’s the Funk!” There were some unfortunate sound issues that created some inaudible vocals and missing initial instrument tracks but other then that this was a Funkin great night! I’m quite confident that all in attendance would agree.
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