Afro-punk hits Northampton for Halloween 10-31-09

The Afro-punk tour bus left Philadelphia and headed four hours north of the map to perform at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA.
Tonight's show landed on Halloween, giving Saul Williams, CX, Tchaka Diallo, and the rest of the gang a chance to dress up in even wackier stage outfits than in any other city. Getting ready on the bus, Saul and his 13-year-old daughter Saturn put on their Halloween attire on the bus-- Saul bought a yellow cape to add to his Niggy Tardust outfit, while Saturn glittered her face to be a dragon.

Can you guess who was Spider-Man? CX of course.

When we reached Pearl Street, the Afro-punk crew met up with an addition to the Northampton show, The Smyrk. A crowd favorite in the Afro-punk community, the guys from The Smryk have played more than 300 shows together and are known for their fusion of hard rock and R&B-- calling their sound Motown rock. The band started in 2003 when lead singer Doron Flake started the group and they released their debut EP, Monsters on Maple Street in 2005. The EP landed in the hands of Incubus bassist, Ben Kenney, giving The Smyrk an opportunity to tour across the country. In Northampton, we even caught the guys, Doron (vocals), Chris Barone (drums), Alex Maranas (bass), and Ari Sadowitz (guitar) posing in their Halloween gear before hitting the stage.

The Halloween night was filled with fun and surprises at Pearl Street as the crowd flooded in with a mixture of Rock n' Roll inspired costumes along with traditional Halloween favorites.

The Smyrk opened the night's show, with lead singer, Doron's soulful voice shocking the crowd. Doron hit high notes without a crack accompanied by Ari's swift guitar rifts. "It's been cool getting involved in the Afro-punk scene," Doron said after hopping off stage. "It seems like the crowd is always ready to have a good time," he said.

Before CX and Tchaka Diallo performed their set, Tchaka Diallo sparked a Halloween costume contest, giving the winning outfit a free t-shirt from the Afro-punk merch table.

The winner, who dressed herself in an old school Carmen Sandiego outfit, took the cake and won the prize.

The guys from American Fangs attempted to dress in woman's dresses, but realized last minute that their on stage performance would be a little to wild for a tight outfit. They kept it simple and played around off stage, but onstage, they rocked out the Northampton crowd.

And after their exhausting performance, all lead singer Gabe wanted was a drink.

Wearing a Spider-Man one piece, CX went into full character on stage crouching on his electric beats table in Peter Parker style. Tchaka Diallo kept it scary by spitting his hard lyrics through a ghost face mask.

Saul and the band were nothing short of adding to the Halloween extravaganza, putting on another rock solid show. Saturn even came out on stage to perform Grippo in her dragon costume.

We don't get to party with a crowd filled with costumes every night, so thank you Northampton for showing the Afro-punk tour crew a festive time. Our next stop is to the home of Bad Brains, Washington, D.C.

- Whitney Summer Boyd