Sunday June 28th was an exceptional night for music and two bands on polar opposites played across town from each other. World Party played the Parish room at the House of Blues and was webcast through Yahoo. Later on in the evening Sage Francis played a Bowery show at Gasa Gasa.
Karl Wallinger started World Party in 1986 in London after leaving The Waterboys. The band consists of Wallinger on keyboard and acoustic guitar and David Duffy on violin and mandolin, a way truncated version of the band. This made for an even better experience as it played into the intimate space of the Parish stage. Gabriel Kelley joined the band on harmonica toward the end of the set to lend support on “Who Are You.” The set was an amazing cross section of the band’s catalogue. The main set was highlighted by rousing versions of “Is it Like Today,” “Ship of Fools,” and “Put the Message in the Box.” “Mystery Girl” and “Way Down Now” rounded out the encore.
Paul William "Sage" Francis is a spoken word/hip hop one man machine from Providence, Rhode Island. This was by far one of the most exciting shows I’ve seen all year. It’s always great going into a show completely blind and getting blow away. The audience was in the palm of his hand and sang/dance along to every song. Sage is more than a spoken word artist/poet; he’s a voice that begs to be heard.
Sunday’s in New Orleans as far as the music scene tends to be weak, but World Party and Sage Francis took the doldrums out of what could have easily been a boring evening. You can see more World Party shots here: http://jalbum.net/a/1637188 and Sage Francis shots here:http://jalbum.net/a/1637170
