Quantic: Constellations, Liverpool

Quantic

Not letting the disappointing football result get the night down, Getintothis’ Amaan Khan checks out Quantic at Constellations.

It seemed Bam! Bam! Bam!, Madnice Marauders and Hot Plate had planned a perfect evening. You start the evening with some barbecue in the garden, catch the footy game and then immerse yourself in sounds of Will Holland aka Quantic and his live band. Except for two problems: disappointment from the match for Liverpool fans and a technical difficulty before the performance, the plan worked pretty well.

So what if summer weather is too hesitant to come and stay? It was mid-May and there was no reason to hold back on the summer vibes. This sentiment was all present in the DJ set by Ole Smokey, Danny Fitzgerald, Mr Jonze and Madnice Marauders Soul Selectors at the Constellations‘ garden. The crowd jived along a selection of tunes largely based around sounds of tropical jazz and related genres, and treated themselves with some barbecue.

Minutes before the kick-off, all the commotion moved inside as the people waited anxiously for UEFA Europa League Final between Sevilla and Liverpool to begin. For the next two hours or so, half the time went watching with hope as Liverpool FC moved closer to victory, the other half seeing those hopes fail. Meanwhile, the DJs continued playing the tunes in the garden.

Once the game was over, it was time for the headlining act. The defeat of the city’s team was taken quite well in this part of the town. The crowd greeted the the band with amiable disposition and cheerful enthusiasm. It was advertised, ‘after the final whistle, celebrate or commiserate in Tropical Style with the global grooves of Quantic Live’. The audience was ready to do just that and kept their spirits up.

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However, they had to put up with one last spoiler of the evening. Not long before guest singer Jimetta Rose got up on stage, ready to take us on the musical joyride, the band met with some technical difficulties. Though it took around half an hour to get the show started again, the crowd did put up with this spoiler quite well.

After the long wait, the band started with a short instrumental full of syncopated rhythms before Jimetta Rose joined the band again. With people like Wilson Viveros on drums, Sylvester Onyejiaka on keys, horns and flute, and of course Will Holand already on stage, the talent on the stage was immense. These were people who have not only practised their craft plenty but also have incorporated notably varied influences in their sound. Though Quantic and his band’s ‘tropical rhythms’ have been exclusively advertised in the recent days and there had been plenty of Latin grooves, but what they presented was much more than that.

The music assumed the dreamy quality of a clear summer night sky as Jimetta Rose invited the people to participate in the tune Look Around the Corner. After Jimetta Rose stepped down, the band launched into some truly energetic jams that featured everything from drum solos, guitar solos, horn solos, flute solos, synth solos to even accordion.

Technical difficulties, audio system qualities, football match defeat and all of that were forgotten along with other cares as the audience danced along. The set featured the clever grooves from Hiphop en Cumbia and crowd-pleasing amounts of rising tempos among other things that reflected the large catalogue associated with Will Holland. The audience enjoyed it enough that an encore was inevitable. The encore saw Jimetta Rose join the band again for couple more tunes.

Seen alongside his DJ set at the Kazimier last October, the night’s live set goes on to showcase Quantic‘s ability to make Liverpool dance. However the main thing that the night showed was that there indeed is a definite summer vibe in the hearts of Liverpudlians, and no cloud can take it away anytime soon.