The heart, the hips, the vibe, and sunglasses at night. Brownman Revival @ 70's Bistro

The heart, the hips, the vibe, and sunglasses at night

Brownman Revival @ 70’s Bistro 1/14/10

At first the opening strains lap at you as gentle as a small wave. Only as it gets your feet wet, the soft spray splashes over you infecting your hips, your mouth, before you know it, your body is no longer your own. It belongs to the music of Brownman Revival. You discover that you suddenly have a dancing bone where previously there was none. The alcohol doesn’t need to infect your system for you to jump on the dance floor as the ephemeral vibe is enough. The music warms you over, massages frayed nerves far better than a masseuse can.

Doctor X’s liner notes to UB40’s Labour of Love is as mythic as the Legend of Bob Marley. He wrote that reggae appealed to cops, Rastafarians, sociologists, and revolutionaries. He said that it appealed to the heart and the hips. The band loved the music as only kids can and 20 years later, you’re still the kid at heart.

Brownman Revival has a way – as it is with the genre – of making love songs seem not so sappy (but I do miss Sappy Saplala’s toasting). It’s close to midnight yet the band radiates sunshine. No wonder vocalist Dino Concepcion wears sunglasses at night.

After the first song, someone already in the crowd yells, “More.” Concepcion laughs and well, he’s right. More indeed and it’s Coming Soon (the title of their eponymous debut EP that was released sometime in those alternative 90s). Concepcion says the new EP will be out some time in the next two months. And they sprinkle their two sets with the new paeans to love, life, and heartbreak. And the new songs become like old new friends if you know what I’m talking about.

Maybe that’s the light beer that costs 44 bucks that has been talking now but the real tonic is the band’s music. Clever bastards. What the hell! I should consult Doctor X.

They play into the night and well past their two sets as cries for more continue. But end they do, I’m home at three in the morning and I’m still wide-awake. I should wear sunglasses at night.

words and pics by me. got loads more of shots at my facebook.