Seun Kuti and Egypt 80's Harbourfront show Wednesday night is an early pick to be my top show of the summer.

The joint started twitching before the 14-member Afrobeat band even fully took the stage. They started playing shortly after 9 p.m. and pumped out their exciting, infectious, propulsive beats until just before 11 p.m., leaving a deliriously happy full house behind.

Kuti, as I noted earlier, is the son of Afrobeat pioneer and legend Fela Kuti, who died in 1997 (Egypt 80 was Fela's second band; about two-thirds of the original members are still with the group). However, the 25-year-old is a charismatic, dynamic star in his own right who sings and plays soprano saxophone.

Fela had been a thorn in the side of Nigeria's military dictatorship during the 1970s, and Seun had some harsh words for his continent's politicians, telling the crowd: "In Africa, we don't have leaders. We have rulers."

In his song "Many Things," Seun shows a concern for social justice, singing:

You can see the corruption
You can see the inflation
You can see the suffering
The suffering of the people

As an aside, Kuti is also an anti-malaria activist.

I thought his most dryly amusing line was when he asked people to pull out their cellphones and wave them. When a few appeared to demur, he said: "Do not worry. Even though we are Nigerians, we will not rob you." :)

If he wanted to push that joke further, he should have asked people to email him their bank account info after the show and he would send them $10 million. :^)

To get a taste of the music, go to the band's MySpace page.

Here's the composition of Egypt 80:

• 2 guitarists
• 1 bassist
• 1 drummer
• 1 pianist
• 2 trumpeters
• 2 saxophonists (not including Seun)
• 3 traditional percussionists
• 2 backup singers (including one who doesn't just shake her booty; she vibrates it)

Considering the complexity and tempo of the music, Eygpt 80 is an amazingly tight band. Technically, they were almost flawless. Most importantly, after listening to them, you feel more alive.

If you are a fellow Canuckistani and trip over this posting from someplace outside T.O., the band has some other Canadian dates this month:

• July 3 - London, Ont.
• July 10 - Ottawa, Ont.
• July 11 - Quebec City
• July 12 - Winnipeg Folk Festival
• July 13 - Montreal

Go see them. You can't go wrong.

Addendum

Kai Chang, writing at his Zuky blog, opined on Kuti's and Egypt 80's show at Vancouver's Commodore ballroom in late June.

Here's a taste of the band performing in Dakar, Senegal: