Concord Pavillion, June 13
These were my 4th and 5th GK concerts, and I'd have to say also the best. The song selection was great, the crowds were dancing much earlier than at my previous concerts, and the best part, the band seemed to be having a blast. On Saturday Patchai pulled up this girl to dance (which was a bad idea, 'cause 5 minutes later you had all kinds of people trying to get on stage), and Sunday the one who really surprised me was Canut. He was in a great mood and trying to get the crowd into it. Anyway, both days they had the same line-up (Paul, Andre, Nicolas, Tonino, Patchai, Georges and Canut, with "Pacheco", Mikael, "Negrito", Gerard Prevost and Dominique Droin accompanying), and they played the same songs (21 total):
I loved that they played Djobi Djoba and Bem Bem Maria, 2 of my favorite songs. But the 2 songs I was really, really impressed with were Mira la Itana Mora and A Tu Vera. For Mira la Itana, they had a really good female violin player (who also played in Salsa de Noche and A mi Wa Wa), and Nicolas was outstanding. But the song itself seemed much more danceable and full of sound than in the CD (which is very good, don't get me wrong). And A Tu Vera was played with so much energy no one could sit still (except the guy to my left...). The 2 instrumental songs at the beginning of the 2nd half were also very, very good. If there was something I would've liked different is that the first 5 songs of the second half were not fast, which after a long intermission takes your energy a little bit down. But of course I could listen to this line-up everyday and not get bored :) I hope the new songs make it to a CD soon, and that the GK keep the same group of backup musicians. "Pacheco" was awesome on the congas.
It will be so hard to wait 'til next year for another dose of GK!!
Alex