Kalamazoo resident Abby Marshall, left, helps Sheyenne Tengis, 7, across the rings at the playground Wednesday at Durant park during the Mystic Shake concert as pre-law and hummanities senior Effie Alfoje-Carr cheers. The grandparents of Tengis brought her and her cousin to the park for Lansing’s concert in the park series.
The free Concerts in the Park series had its second concert of the summer Wednesday in Durant Park.
Although the gloomy weather might have deterred a larger crowd, of the 30 people who attended, most seemed to have an enjoyable evening. With a small audience sitting in lawn chairs and children playing on the playground, Mystic Shake took the stage.
Before this concert, I hadn’t listened to much reggae music. I don’t have anything against it, but I had just never taken the time to branch out of my typical musical zone. When the band started setting up, I thought they were going to be a group of older gentleman trying to relive days of being in a band when they were younger, but as soon as they started playing, the music made me want to sail away to a distant island and relax on the beach. I didn’t pay close attention to the lyrics as I did the rhythm and instruments.
“The Banana Boat Song” was one of the songs I enjoyed the most. I’d heard the song before, so their rendition have some serious shoes to fill. However, to my surprise, they sounded just as good as the version I heard before — one of the men in the group even went as far as giving out banana’s mid-song. And not just two or three — he ran around the audience and handed out half a dozen hands of bananas. That wasn’t the only interaction the band had with the audience, though. Between songs, the band would talk to each other and the audience about different things. While some performers can come across as tacky when they try to “make friends” with the audience, these guys did it just right, relying on more than cheesy jokes. It made me feel like they were all good friends just hanging out and playing music. They were laid back and didn’t try too hard – it came naturally.
Most of their songs were relaxed, lighthearted and fun. One of the more ridiculous songs was about guacamole. Even though it had a fun beat and was semi-enjoyable, I wouldn’t want an encore of the song. On the opposite end of the enjoyable spectrum was a song about television. It discussed how TV has changed over the years, and even made me laugh when they sang a song about a grandma throwing someone out a window for turning the channel.
Overall, Mystic Shake gave a great concert. They had a good stage presence, interacted with the audience and seemed to have fun playing music, and if the performers are having fun onstage, why wouldn’t those offstage be enjoying themselves too?
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