Shakti say farewell on a sonic and spiritual high

The Summer of 1976 and Britain broils in its hottest season ever: the UK’s barely been in the Common Market three years, Apartheid is entrenched, and England’s cricketers are being roasted by the Windies of Holding and Richards. Meanwhile, up in the Gods of the then Hammersmith Apollo, a 16-year-old Gary Husband sits not believing his ears as he watches Shakti’s first ever UK gig. The world won’t ever be the same.

And Husband’s still awestruck. Okay, it’s now the summer of 2023, even hotter than 1976, the EU’s a distant memory, and in a great turning of the wheel, there are giant screens in Piccadilly celebrating the Windrush generation. Forty-six years on from that first Shakti gig, Husband had just finished an opening set with guitarist Nguyên Lê supporting what is apparently the last Shakti incarnation. The first has become the last, a poignant moment, as Husband described it, his respect for John MacLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and their maestro colleagues most evident. It was a sentiment shared by the Eventim audience who gave Shakti a standing ovation before they’d even played a note.

But this wasn’t a night of nostalgia. Shakti were here to play and play hard, with a new album to promote and a world tour stretching ahead. Old faves were re-born, like McLaughlin’s elegiac dedication ‘Zakir’, while ‘5 In The Morning, 6 In The Afternoon’ though familiar still thrilled in its labyrinthine lines and joy-felt precision.

Newer members like vocalist Shankar Mahadevan have brought a fresher texture to the band. “The Voice” as Zakir described him (so forget Tom Jones) sways and gestures and leads the band in a dance that lifts them again. The call-and-response konnakol of new material like ‘This Moment’ was a stand-out among many. Likewise, the festive ensemble playing of Mahadevan’s ‘Bending the Rules’ kept the audience enthralled.

Everything coalesced with the closing ‘Finding the Way’, which started with that ever-seductive theme from ‘You Know, You Know’ but climaxed with a percussion stand-off between Selvaganesh Vinayakram and Zakir Hussain that would have had Husband on cloud nine.

And another difference from 1976? This was an audience of predominantly Indian and south Asians, confident, owning it, nailing the night in joy. Where Husband once sat, three generations of sari’d women revelled. Daughter wore a Fitbit, mum surreptitiously filmed on her iPhone, grandmother leaned forward, rapt. The ‘other’ of ‘76 has grown to be the ‘us’ of 2023. A world of difference. And better for it. Even the cricket’s not that bad.