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The Three Boo!dists are Back!
Mercury Live received a blast from the past last night with the re-arrival of South African ‘munkipunkers’ Boo!. Having graced the upstairs stage at Mercury last in December 2004, Chris Chameleon (bass, vocals), Ampi Omo (trumpet, trombone, keyboards, percussion) and new addition Riann van Rensburg (drums) returned with old classics as well as from their new album due for release in South Africa next from next week (Monday 28th May 2010).
Having last played for a Capetonian audience at their triumphant turn at Ramfest in February, the Mercury gig provided a chance for a more intimate and tailor-made set to be enjoyed by a mixed audience – the ‘older generation’ familiar with the waves Boo! created in the music scene from 1997-2004 back when Mercury was still ‘The Jam’ and a newer posse spawned from the industry explosion of the last five years. Needless to say, both mingled quite effortlessly under the rock-operesque spectacle of a Boo! gig.
Opening up for Boo! were ‘To Our Devine’, comprising the duo of Matthew Mole and Ash Stephenson on guitars backed by electronically programmed drums, synths and bass from a laptop. They did well to assert themselves in a situation that they are obviously not familiar with playing to a large, unfamiliar crowd. Youthful naiveity might just have saved them any possible embarrassment, the lyrical themes and arrangements of all the songs seemed very similar and out of context to an older crowd, coming across as a Jonas Brothers-cum-electro guitar bandits. The mix between the live guitars/vocals and the backing tracks had different textures and, although mixed well by the live engineer, produced a lack of unity in the bands sound. These two guys could take a leaf out of bands such as Miike Snow or The XX who also incorporate backings tracks to substitute for lack of live drums. However, these are elements that need to be addressed over time, but for now I must give these guys kudos for playing their original tracks to an uninitiated audience without disdain – they are merely following the footsteps of every other band in existence by doing that!
It took 20 minutes of waiting, many chants of “BOOO!” and the band manager’s plea against smoking as it “effects Chris’ vocal chords” to draw Boo! onstage, and when they started they started with much aplomb – Chameleon kicking a young photgrapher offstage within the first minute or so and a close-up look of Riaan van Rensburg, the new drummer with the great drummer’s sex face…chipmunk rock ‘n roll. From there on it was all plain sailing as Boo! belted through familiar favourites as well as new tracks ranging from fast paced skankers to slow sublime ballads – all the while showcasing Chameleon’s very universal songwriting talent and amazing four-octave vocal range with complimenting physical vocal effects – something which I have only noticed Inge Beckman from Lark also do in South Africa.
Chameleon’s bass playing is also very accomplished, maintaining a full-bodied woody tone throughout weighted by slaps and pops in the more funkier sections of songs. This coupled with the precision drumming of van Rensburg made for a very tight rhythm section sound. Ampie, filling the right of the stage with his long blonde hair dreadlocked with colorful ribbons and Kanye West vizer sunglassed, was all to content between changing his duties between playing trumpet, trombone, keyboards, tambourine, TRIANGLE and also backing vocals!
The sound mix was very subtle and didn’t over-extend Mercury’s JBL system at all – in fact, the lack of distortion in any of the instruments allowed for each instrument to have its own place within the mix, the drums in particular sounded very crisp and to-the-point. My only concern was the changes of level for Ampie’s mics. Sometimes he would come in and his trumpet or trombone mic, or keyboard line wouldn’t be on and thus the beginnings of his phrases would be lost…sure Ampie was bouncing around between instruments a lot, but I think the sound engineer should have been informed of the songs structures so that he could be prepared in time.
Boo! jammed for an hour-and-a-half, they were Boo-ed a helluva lot (which is a good thing), the lighting was awesome, the sound great, the charcters of the individual band members dramatic and interesting to watch at all times – all in all leaving anyone who was watching with the impression that they have recounted the past in nostalgia, discovered something old that is amazing and overall enjoyed a gig that was well worth the R50 or R60 that was required to enter.
http://www.facebook.com/booband#!/booband?v=info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo!_%28band%29
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