King Sunny Adé at Joe's Pub

Ever since Friday I've found myself listening to the Killers. But only that one song.

Last night I met Ed at Joe's Pub to see King Sunny Adé. When the lights went down, his drummers appeared on stage. Then his guitarists. Then some other instrumentalists. And finally Adé. By the time the band was assembled there were 14 people on stage. Mid-way through, three female dancers also appeared. Adé kept joking about the size of the stage.

The concert was fantastic. At one point, he took the audience back to his first recording session, using one mike and an acoustic guitar before he had the entire band sit to present juju music in a concert setting. He thanked the crowd and said that were this a true plum wine club, they'd play until dawn. He offered to bring the wine next time they were in town.

The concert didn't quite end at dawn; we were out before midnight. At the end, people arrived on stage to dance with Adé and to shower him with money. He danced and sang and then danced towards the back of the stage and then off of it. At Astor Place I said goodnight to Ed and goodbye. He leaves for Africa today. Until we meet again in August . . .
Posted by eku at May 2, 2005 12:11 PM