Michael Franti & Spearhead at Whelan’s, Dublin, 9th May 2014

There’s the eternal question of when summer starts in Ireland. There’s normally a sunny week at the start of June followed by two months of rain before the summer finally begins in the third week of August. For those in Whelan’s on a rainy Friday night in Dublin, there’s a summer’s worth of sunshine, all brought about by Michael Franti & Spearhead.

Ushered onstage by Eve’s Let Me Blow Your Mind and Dr Dre’s Still D.R.E., each surely making their Whelan’s debuts, Franti arrives shoeless wearing his own merchandise, here an ‘All People’ t-shirt, and a beanie hat. But don’t let that put you off; it’s his smile and energy that shine through for the tall, powerfully built 48 year old.

From the very first song Everybody Deserves Music, a song as joyous in spirit and musically as it is in its lyrics, Franti has the entire venue bouncing. For Hello Bonjour the crowd sing back and wave their arms.

But Franti is not just a distant choirmaster, and this is not an opening salvo that proves the night’s highlight. Rather, it is setting a precedent for what is to follow. It’s a show of seemingly endless positivity. If Franti isn’t singing or rapping with a smile on his face, he’s roaming the front of the stage shaking hands with the front row or he’s in the crowd itself dancing with, or embracing, every person he can reasonably get to. This is truly what wireless microphones were made for.

For a number of songs, notably Sound of Sunshine, audience members are invited onstage to dance with the band. There’s a sense of oneness, a sense of unity and community embraced by Franti – his ‘Power to the peaceful’ tattoo is clear for all to see – and shared with the few hundred present.

The only down note of the show is when Franti tells the crowd, in a heartfelt moment, that his son is ill at home. Even the anti-war rocker Yell Fire – with lyrics like “The F-15 is a homicide bomber” and “Everyone’s addicted to the same gasoline” – seems to be celebrating the power of people to change the world rather than lamenting the way it is.

The show is an enthusiastic outpouring of joy right from the start to their last song, All People. Rather than end the show there though, they launch straight into a DJ set; guitarist J Bowman standing at the Mac and Franti again among the crowd, mic in hand, singing and occasionally rapping to the music. The crowd eventually starts to dwindle as people begin filing into the sodden streets outside, the rain somehow not feeling as wet as it did before the show.

A Michael Franti & Spearhead show may not be big on musical invention or variety. Neither Franti nor his band perform with overt virtuosity or creativity. They play accessible, upbeat reggae full of major chords, catchy hooks and sing-along choruses.

Spearhead, and Franti specifically, offer so much more than just music though. There is an infectious atmosphere to the show that goes beyond its mere energy. There is a life-affirming joy that emits from the stage. Franti’s message is one of peace, love, tolerance and inclusion and it’s transmitted in a heart-lightening way. As he sings early in the show, “That’s the sound of sunshine coming down.”

It’s a show of unrepentant joy. For that, Franti has no peer. Whelan’s won’t likely see a better show any time soon.