Wed 20 Aug – The Ex, Mahmoud Ahmed, Alèmayèhu Eshèté, Alemayehu Eshete, Extra Golden, Gétatchèw Mèkurya, Getatchew Mekurya, Either/Orchestra

Kudos to whoever set up this wonderful event. They clearly had some sort of luck. August 20th remained one of those sorts of days where you could begin to feel the transition out of the heat of summer into the cool September weather. For those who stayed in New York the whole summer, it was a real treat.

Entering Lincoln Center for the first time in about a decade, I got to try for the most narrow-minded raffle imaginable: an Amtrak ticket to anywhere in the Northeast Corridor (they even advertised it as such). Seems alot of people came from Washington, DC, to come for the event, including Extra Golden, who hailed from there.

Basically, they served as sort of a comfortable beginning for the event, playing a cross between the arty rock found on Thrill Jockey with a Kenyan flair. Honestly, I ended up pleasantly surprised by how focused they were. You could tell they were on Thrill Jockey when Alex spoke though: with the perfect mixture of awkward nerdiness and genuine kindness, he described both his new white shoes and his father's birthday, almost in the same sentence. Drumming stayed quite tight, and they all sort of meshed into a single, catchy groove. Happy, airy guitar lines mixed in with some more angular takes on the same theme. Pretty great stuff, and they were a perfectly appropiate introduction to the rest of the concert, since they weren't as intense as what would follow them, although they did capture the sunny breeziness of the whole center quite well.

Either/Orchestra apparently come from Boston, and their first effort, without Alemayehu Eshete or Mahmoud Ahmed, seemed very aimless. Basically, as soon as Eshete came up, they got a bit more of a purpose. Without any anchor, they drifted into pointless solos and boring meandering. Eshete helped a bit, but I felt like his set was a bit scattershot, some of it was compelling, while other songs seemed a bit forced.

Mahmoud Ahmed, on the other hand, stayed consistently excellent, and had to be a favorite of mine. As soon as I saw someone walking up on stage looking like a Red Stripe beer can, I knew something had to be up. The funkiness the Either/Or Orchestra found in him amazed me. Before him they had been alright, but he really dominated everyone in that audience. Even the college professors in the audience began to attempt dance moves, possibly some of the worst moves I've ever witnessed. Of course the professors must've known this, but it didn't stop them. Honestly, a completely irresistable performance. I laughed when I found myself actually singing the "hi bei" (or however it is actually spelled) for three minutes. The whole audience responded so warmly to him. I can see why he's considered such a "beloved singer". He even did an encore!

Getatchew Mekurya with The Ex ended the night off. At this point, most of the audience had brought themselves to the front. Even people walking their dogs in the neighborhood and cyclists had come into the open space to watch. Now their first two songs were alright, the third had this high pitched shrill flute sound that probably brought some of the dogs owners there, and ruined at least one hearing aid. After the third song, they rocked out. In case their music wasn't enough, we had some dancer (who had also been around earlier with Mahmoud, wearing a different color) come out and start dancing around The Ex's guitarists. Their singer, after singing some rather odd lines, started dancing with him and his sword. He gave the singer the sheath, and the two moved around together. For an old Dutchman, he was a pretty spry guy. Lean and somewhat muscular, as was he. Getatchew had a solo as well and considering he's 73 years old, he still had quite a bit left in him, much of which he gave up to the saxophone.

A concert I almost didn't go to due to laziness, I really enjoyed myself. Perfect weather, ample seating, and not even a band bad enough to complain about.