Review: Seun Kuti and Egypt 80

Those of us who witnessed the North American premier of Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 felt truly fortunate. This is a show that will be remembered for decades. Egypt 80 came out and warmed up the audience and there was lots of groovin’ in your seat, but only a few brave souls up dancing. That all changed when Seun took the stage.

Frankly, I can’t remember the last time I was at a Union Theater show where the audience danced like that. We tried fruitlessly to keep up with the fantastic background singers – who shimmied and shook for throughout the two hour set!

 

I’d forgotten how great the sound is in the Union Theater – perhaps the best acoustic venue in Madison, don’t you agree? Imagine how great it sounded when the 18 musicians on stage in this band were groovin’ together. To me – it felt like a privilege to see the original members of Fela Kuti’s legendary Egypt 80 rhythm section – they were just solid.

 

 

 

A treat for those of us cooling off on the Terrace was the appearance by these “ringers” at Open Mike:

Say “Ya Yeah!” and look for more comments and photos soon from Malliman!