Vieux Farka Touré and his band of the very merriest men played on The State Room’s stage in Salt Lake City last Saturday (4/12/25), and everything about it felt electrified.
For a sold-out show, it never felt like one. Instead, the air was thick with a swath of palpable joy as smiles hardly left their faces (or ours). It was an out-and-out celebration care of Mali, and it felt like briefly going on a vacation to a warm and inviting country we may never have the opportunity to visit otherwise. To further paint that picture, the band wore traditional clothing from their far-off West African homeland, too — a tunic and loose-fitting trousers — immediately resembling the most stylish, comfortable pajamas on the market.
When singer/guitarist/composer Vieux Farka Touré and his small band of three performed, he absolutely commanded with his guitar, as the others played a combination of bass, percussion (drums & calabash drum), and ngoni. There was more singing than speaking, and that hardly mattered. When there were vocals, they were rarely in English (and again, totally unimportant). Instead, we tapped into how they were feeling, marveled at the rare treat we were experiencing, and gladly lost track of time. It hardly felt like enough when a one-song encore got tacked on to the end of 90 minutes. And yet? It was hard not to be grateful.
While it’s a little early in 2025 to throw this prediction out, here goes: Vieux Farka Touré may have given us the best concert of the year. It’ll be hard to see any local or touring bands top that kind of magic.
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