Once upon various posters in the streets of Victoria, I felt this permeating presence of the event. Not a long time after descending from a ferry, and I see them ads for the upcoming concert, headlined by Shabazz Palaces, all over the city. The first thought: that must be a major happening. Ultimately, I found out those were more like signs, left with a blacklight pen. Something only a few could see. Us, luckily, included.
For those who do not know, the White Eagle Polish Hall is literally a hall with one major shared salle. Unpretentious, classic, tidy, post-Soviet-looking. It was too weird imagining Shabazz Palaces playing there for numerous reasons. And yet so comforting. Exactly because it is one shared salle.
My partner knew the band from their early years, as he followed the parts of Grammy-awarded Digable Planets going different ways. For him, they were too big for the venue. For me, who mostly knew Ishmael and mostly for the latest Exotic Birds of Prey (2024), they were too out of this world in general, so I had no idea what place could possibly fit such an act. Not this? Nah, the band’s arrival erased all thoughts on the matter at once, taking the White Eagle over as they could, I fantasize, anything.
They came in a group of five, all in black, pacily dispersing into the crowd. Although no one seemed to notice, the energies stirred, aware and not. No foreword or ‘please-pay-attention-tricks.’ They started the show right away, mutually ready: Carlos Overall on chamber instruments, Darrius Willrich on keyboards, Tendai “Baba” Maraire on bass, Thaddeus Turner on guitar, and, of course, Ishmael Butler on synths and vocals.
En bref, not only did they reveal their music in all its colors, but also what they can do with it, pouring one track into another, creating and blending sounds familiar and unheard.
It aches a bit still that I left their song list sheet at the venue. From memory, they played the awesome Are You…Can You… Were You? (Felt), N. Splendored/Find Out, A Mess, Forerunner Foray, Bad Bitch Walking, and others.
Must be said, every artist with the experience that Shabazz Palaces have can work with their audience. However, its presence was limited that night, which made it different. The Garden City Grooves is a three-day music festival that attracted people seeking a hangout AND listening to music. At times, the volume of the crowd’s chatting made that obvious, challenging artists with a weaker stage presence. Not Shabazz Palaces, though, who pierced that thick drunk noise quite with ease. The musicians experimented a lot, but only to the extent they liked it. Seeing the magic so sincere made others like it too.
Some tracks remained recognizable, others kept me engaged in guessing and moving at the same time. Given all that said, it was quite an evening, when you always had your mind and body on something, not a moment to waste.
By choice, I’ll stick to this band-venue chemistry for a bit longer. Just to say two things:
- the venue made the band quite close to us all, increasing the intimacy level that has left pleasant traces on the skin. There’s something indescribable in sharing the room with energies so enormous, and it does not go away. At least for me, it hasn’t;
- it revealed the band’s loyalty to art. How so? Don’t say you haven’t heard of the bands that play lazily when it comes to small performances. Also, Eugene from The Sergeant and Comrade humbly shared that the venue’s sound was not at its best. It was no limitation or excuse for the Shabazz delivery, nor was it for The Sergeant and Comrade’s. And I felt that, as the audience, we were not taken for granted. Proved with the musicians’ sweat.
Those signs, left with a blacklight pen… How coincidental it was that one of the very few bursts of this band’s performances lately took place near us, and was sheltered in a place so petite. It seemed that the layers of everyday normality tried to hide it from the uninitiated eye in every way possible. Not all who crossed the poster knew what they were crossing, and not all who had tickets for The Garden City Grooves paid attention to the scale. The city was sleepy, the weekends were planned, the blossoms distracted, the winds were severe, and the White Eagle was unknown. We could have been robbed of this rareness. So glad we were not.
P. S. The organization was high-level with caring staff around and free water (and condoms) for everyone.