Afro Psychedelia’s set consisted of a series of juxtapositions that conflicted with each other at every turn. For a start, no one in the band had an afro… not even slightly frizzy hair. What’s more, the bassist toiled away diligently on a guitar that looked far more suited to something ZZ Top would have played back in the ’70s rockers’ heyday than something a psychedelic funk musician would profess to use. Doubling up as the vocalist, he boasted a voice so gruff it’s hard to imagine how on Earth he manages to communicate with people in real life. As such, it was kinda hard to make out any of his lyrics but from at least what I could tell they predominantly appeared to be in English and possibly even touched on themes of murder and death.

About halfway through Afro Psychedelia’s set, the weather gods decided they’d finally had enough and dumped a decent-sized downpour on the crowd, coinciding with the start of a song that sounded more like dub than funk. The audience scattered, taking refuge under any shelter possible. The downpour lasted for the entire song and then cleared up as the five-piece outfit moved back onto more traditional psychedelic funk numbers. Towards the end of the set, the percussionist pulled out a trombone but instead of winding things up with his instrument all ablaze, he merely proceeded to add an intriguing layer of dark harmonics into the background. It was a set-defining move and with two other drummers also in the band, one has to wonder why he hadn’t been doing this all along.

While the performance was for the most part psychedelic in flavor, it definitely wasn’t very afro. That said, it was a whole heap of fun, and it provided those caught in the downpour at the international food court some decent tunes to eat their food to. If I could be so bold, however, I would like to make a request: at least one afro next year please…