BRUTAL KNIGHTS / ALEMAYEHU ESHETE

Last Saturday turned out to be another memorable night at the Pit's club! I simply cannot imagine a more powerful live band than Toronto's BRUTAL KNIGHTS. During the gig, I was thinking to myself that this must've been how BLACK FLAG sounded on stage during their heyday. With two guitar players, one bass player, one drummer and one singer, Canada's hardcore kings almost blew the roof off the fuckin' Pit's! With blasting intensity, the band's earth-shattering punk rock turned the place into a ruthless moshpit once again. What a band! Concert of the year? You bet!

Yesterday, I went to see ALEMAYEHU ESHETE aka the Ethiopian James Brown! Before the show, I talked to Francis Falceto whom I once interviewed about his fabulous Ethiopiques reissue program and he told me that Mr. Eshete's backing band consisted of young Bretons. I don't know if he saw the disappointment on my face in the vein of “What? No Ethiopians but a bunch of French conservatory musicians??”, but as soon as the band hit the stage, I knew that my prejudiced point of view was totally misplaced since the band played a terrific set. Alemayehu was in top form too and he really enjoyed himself on stage. Many classic Ethiopian songs were being played and when Alemayehu Eshete came back for an encore, the band played “Addis Ababa” and everybody was dancing! A mighty fine gig indeed!! After the show, I went to congratulate Alemayehu for his wonderful performance and he said "thank you brother" and gave me a hug! What a wonderful human being!!


I promise to bring my camera next time so I can shoot some pics for this blog.