By Peter Maddern
In this year’s slimmed down, more select Sessions festival it may well be that Babylon Circus will prove to be the highlight of the year’s program.
The nine player ensemble attacked their sold-out Friday performance with the same verve as they approach recording their music. The street beat and garbed French reggae and ska group also seemed, to a man, to thoroughly enjoy the gig and their audience’s reaction, even though the Circus are the veterans of over 1000 shows since they formed 18 or so years ago.
Their music is rollicking good fun, both powerful and melodic with its two lead singers Manuel Nectoux and David Baruchel capable exponents of their variation of calypso rhythms. Baruchel, in just a light fitting black vest, particularly is quite the show man though it is clear that membership of this band requires not only musical virtuosity but also good humour and extroversion, none more so than for the ever stage-revolving three piece brass section led by smiling Valentin Meylan.
At times, Babylon Circus descends and almost disappears into mindless AC-DC like pounding riffs before then recovering with blasts of wind that lift the tone for an audience that possessed one of the most age varied memberships I can recall witnessing at the Festival Theatre.
Sure, it was all mostly in French but for Francophiles and everyone-else, Babylon Circus infuses their music with a global language of energy and fun everyone can understand. What a pity just one show.
Kryztoff Rating 5K
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