The Five After Five concert series kicked off Thursday night in front of the Five Points fountain, drawing a large crowd of all ages.
As temperatures dropped to a comfortable 70 degrees, and the first band of the night, Calvin and Friends, took the stage, people filtered out of the nearby restaurants and bars and filled the area in front of the platform.
The concert, headlined by funky Columbia favorite Tootie and the Jones, marked the third year the spring event has been held. The string of shows was previously a fall tradition, but in 2009, the directors of the series switched to spring.
For the first show of the 2011 season, Five After Five brought in old-school rock ‘n’ roll heavyweights Calvin and Friends and Tootie and the Jones.
Calvin and Friends rocked the Columbia scene in the ’80s and ’90s, but front man Calvin Hunter’s bright smile and wide range of percussion talents make the band relevant for any decade, including this one.
Opening up the concert as the “Throwback Band of ’70s Funk & Disco,” dressed in brightly colored animal print and polka-dotted suits and dresses, Calvin and Friends kept the crowd dancing to covers of “The Electric Slide” and Jackson Five’s “ABC”.
Hunter has been in the music business for 35 years, getting his start in his middle school years, even playing in the USC marching band. He graduated in 1987 with a media arts degree and has been playing with Columbia music pros — like Jim “Soni” Sonefield, the drummer from Hootie & the Blowfish, and Tootie and the Jones — since then.
“At one time Calvin and Friends, Tootie and the Jones and Hootie & the Blowfish all had members in the other bands,” Hunter said. “I pulled Calvin and Friends together for a show, and Soni is the one that told me I should keep doing it because it was cool.”
Fourth-year elementary education student Margaret Bauknight came to support her friend, Janice, one of the female vocalists in Calvin and Friends, who she sings with in her church’s choir.
“I’m here to enjoy myself and enjoy listening. I know they put on a really good show, and this is the first time I’ve been able to see them,” Bauknight said.
Tootie is particularly famous as the band Sonefield left for a big-ticket gig in Hootie & the Blowfish. However, Tootie and the Jones continue to live up to their reputation as one of Columbia’s best party bands.
Tootie and the Jones are no strangers to the Five After Five concert series, playing the festival in 2009. They brought their A-game this year, with Hunter at vocals and guitarist Wallace Mullinax shredding on guitar. The band got the audience singing along with their skillful rendition of Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up,” a trend that would continue with their soulful and funky originals.
Fourth-year graduate law student Alex Huber came out specifically to see the old-school rockers.
“I know they play locally a lot, and since I’ve never seen them, I wanted to check them out,” Huber said.
In addition to the concert, the festival offered sidewalk chalk art for the younger children in attendance and food and drinks in Saluda’s and the Five Points Starbucks. Even the Village Idiot mascot joined in, high-fiving and strolling his way through the crowd and strinking up an impromptu dance party during Calvin and Friends’ cover of “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge.