YS1_3952 As soon as the roadies started tuning up I knew this would be a great show. I’d never heard of the band(s) before, but you know how an odd name can grab your attention (and vice versa – it took me a very long time before I checked out Vampire Weekend simply because they sounded like a Rocky Horror tribute act).
Anyway Conguero Whatnot’s roadies were so enthusiastic about their job that I genuinely thought the main show had started. In fact, I’d noted that the band should learn to make more of an entrance, since the show just seemed to peter in. There was a guy dancing on what appeared to be a board of wood with mics, and half a dozen others, putting together a tight soul-jazz sound. Then they took off and I thought “cheeky bastards – that was only about 20 minutes”.
The Conguero Etc came on. I’m not sure if they knew it or not, but their first tune was Stairway to Heaven, only nu-jazz style, with Japanese lyrics.
The second tune was a soul-jazz groove that very nearly had me out of my chair.
The third began with some wah wah funk and I was up dancing.
The real band also had a guy jumping about on a plank. Possibly the same guy that the roadies had. He was dancing furiously, but each time his feet landed, he made a beat. To keep this going, even doing breakbeats by jumping, is mind-boggling and very cool to watch. It reminded me of those A-Seed guys near the entrance pedaling bicycles to power a speaker – only much better, obviously.

Roadies ★ ★ ★ ★
Band ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Seatability ★ ★ ★