Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Give the People What They Want at Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival

Review to come.

LAKE STREET DIVE - 07.16.14 - LOWDOWN HUDSON BLUES FESTIVAL (1 hour, 2 minutes)

Stop Your Crying / What About Me / Clear a Space / Look at What Mistake / Bad Self Portraits / I Don't Care About You* / Use Me Up / Hello? Goodbye! / Bobby Tanqueray / Just Ask / Rabid Animal / Seventeen / I Want You Back / You Go Down Smooth

SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS - 07.16.14 - LOWDOWN HUDSON BLUES FESTIVAL (1 hour, 26 minutes)

Intro > Hot Shot / Gonna Make Time / In the Night* / Stranger to My Happiness / You'll Be Lonely / Calamity / Long Time, Wrong Time / I Heard It Through the Grapevine / If You Call / Now I See / Making Up & Breaking Up (and Making Up & Breaking Up Over Again) / He Said I Can / People Don't Get What They Deserve > There Was a Time > Slow Down, Love / Get Up & Get Out / Retreat! / Outro

Eric Krasno & Friends Debut Several Songs at the Slipper Room

While you may know him as the guitarist for Soulive and Lettuce, Eric Krasno has also been making headway as a solo artist since 2010's Reminisce.  Last night at the Slipper Room, Eric and a few of his friends unleashed a set of new tunes in the intimate venue.

Starting later than the scheduled 8pm, Krasno took the stage with Warren Haynes' bassist Ron Johnson, the Blind Boys of Alabama's keyboardist Peter Levin, and the Dap-Kings' Eric Kalb on drums.  From the opening instrumental cut, the band locked in with each other, with Johnson taking care of the bottom, Levin chirping along on a stack of Nord Electro 2s, Kalb finding the pocket, and Kraz soloing, eyes closed, on top.  Permanent grins on Levin's and Kalb's faces remained for the entire set.  For the second number, a spirited cover of Ike & Tina Turner's "You Got What You Wanted," they were joined by Warren Haynes' vocalist Alecia Chakour and TAB's James Casey on sax, percussion, and vocals.  "This is our first time playing any of this stuff," admitted Krasno, taking lead vocals on the debut of "Jezebel."  The microphone he was using muddied the quality of his voice a bit, so that could take some of the blame, but it was clear he's a better guitar player than a singer.  He's definitely not bad, but in comparison to his astounding fretwork and Chekour's powerful vocals, it's evident why he usually enlists guest vocalists on his albums.

After "Blood from a Stone," which boasted a groovy wah-wah solo, Krasno announced to the crowd that he wanted to play "something familiar for you."  Ironically, their rendition of "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" ended up as the night's biggest letdown.  As I mentioned, Alecia Chekour had chops, but her boisterous, diva-like riffing drowned out the band.  The soulful supporting vocals by Casey could barely be heard amidst her showboating.  Thankfully, she was able to pull back a little by the time they turned in a funked-up version of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home."  New song "Torture" was one of the best of the night, a blues romp with a solo that had Eric teetering on the edge of psychedelia. 

After an hour+ set, the original foursome returned to play "76," a scorcher from Reminisce.  Again, the instrumental bookend exemplified how well these cats could play together.  For the first time performing these songs, they were incredibly tight.  While JamBands.com had expected additional guests to sit in (I spotted Neal Evans in the back of the house.), it probably would've gotten too cramped on the narrow stage, already congested with just six.  Eric declared genuinely, "This is really fun.  I hope we're gonna keep doing this too."  Here's to hoping it's soon, and that Chakour shows a little more restraint next time.

Because most of the songs are new, any setlist help is appreciated.

ERIC KRASNO & FRIENDS - 02.06.13 - THE SLIPPER ROOM (1 hour, 14 minutes)

SET -
Instrumental* / You Got What You Wanted / Jezebel / Blood from a Stone* / You've Really Got a Hold on Me / He Can't Please You* / Can't Find My Way Home / Torture / Move Over / Unconditional Love*

ENCORE -
76

The Heavy Give Irving Plaza a Glorious Show

Music is great to listen to on vinyl or the radio or your iPod, but it's meant to be heard live.  Going to concerts has been a passion of mine since my very first one, almost twenty years ago.  I love live music, and I want more people to hear what I'm hearing out there, which is why this blog has become so focused on concert reviews recently.  If you solely listen to the recorded output of an artist, you're experiencing only one facet of the band.  And as evidenced from last night's show by the Heavy at Irving Plaza, the energy of a live performance can not only improve the songs, it can create euphoria.

Fresh off a spot at Afropunk Festival, the Skins opened, and I had a chance to check out their Bandcamp page before the show.  Made up of three siblings and their two friends, the Skins are decidedly influenced by '70s hard rockers Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, both of which they covered at Irving, including the set-closer "How Many More Times."  The androgynous, multiethnic teens that make up the band could have been extras on Skins, and I didn't realize how young they were until they took the stage.  So young that they attempted to lead a chant of "Hide your wife, hide your kids" from "Bed Intruder Song"... without irony.  "Do you guys like Kanye West?  'Cause we do!" shouted lead singer Bayli Mckelthan before they launched into a cover of "Mercy."  While I can't stand Kanye, it was at least interesting to discover this other side of the band.  The in-between-song banter needs improvement ("I would like do something with all of you guys," said Bayli on the attractiveness of the audience.), but after doing a little more research, I found out that the drummer is only 14, so they are literally children.  In a few more years, they could be a force to reckon with if they don't all go to different colleges. 


On record, British rockers the Heavy are a strange brew of the Black Keys, marching band, old soul, and horror movie soundtrack, with most of their lyrics focusing on the macabre.  But when performing live, the group unleashes their inner animal (likely a wolf), infusing their style with so much moxie, all the songs can be heard in a different light.  They were actually the first band David Letterman ever asked to perform an encore on his show.

The quartet took the stage with its crew swollen to incorporate a keyboardist, four backup singers (two male, two female) from Georgia, and introduced as the Dirty Three, a three-piece horn section including Dap-Kings trumpeter Dave Guy.  The audio from the trailer of '60s monster film The She Beast crackled out of the PA, signaling "Can't Play Dead," the first of many tracks to be played off their new album, The Glorious Dead.  Impish lead singer Kelvin Swaby's suit jacket stayed on for exactly one song before he stripped down to a wifebeater.  After charging through some older tunes like the reggae-tinged "Cause for Alarm" and the spaghetti western-inspired "Short Change Hero," Swaby informed the crowd he wanted to play some more songs from The Glorious Dead.  "Curse Me Good," the LP's most melodic number, started the sequence.  A live staple for years, "The Big Bad Wolf" followed it like Little Red Riding Hood, but this wasn't the sneaky trickster from the children's tale.  This was a fucking monster.  With the crowd howling and screaming, "What you say!" it was incredible to realize that I was in a room full of adults singing along, "I'm gonna huff and puff, and blow your house down!"  It was going to be hard to top it, so Swaby walked us through a dry run of the lyrics to the new single, "What Makes a Good Man?"  And then they completely killed it!  The shriek of the horns, the propulsive drums, and the combined shouts of the crowd and backup singers took this one to a whole new plain.  It was during this song that I realized this might've been the loudest concert I've been to in years.

Swaby instructed the crowd for "Same Ol'" next, but may have taken the whole singalong act too far when he wanted us to sing back the words of a song that didn't make it onto the record, "A Lesson Learned."  His banter was that of a cocky person who feigns insecurity: "I'm feeling like New York City loves the Heavy, right?"  While this got old fairly quickly, no one seemed to mind.  Looking around me during the show, everyone was grinning the whole time.

For the encore, the original quartet performed "Girl," a mostly spoken word piece in which Kelvin proposed, "I think all the girls at the Irving Plaza should come back to our hotel room for some tea."  After a useless "Happy Birthday" dedicated to the keyboardist, the band started vamping while Swaby parted the crowd down the middle like Moses, only to do a "Which side of the room is louder?" shtick like at a Universal Studios stunt show.  This didn't accomplish much except to reorganize the crowd before the final song of the night, "How You Like Me Now?"  Used in several commercials and TV shows, it's the song everyone knows, and the crowd went buckwild.  At the song's end, Swaby expressed his gratitude and said, "You made me bust out my ass and everything," revealing that the seam on the back of his trousers had split wide open.

They missed out on an opportunity by not selling any merch.  I would've bought every album on vinyl.  But it's not about the records; it's about the live show.  I stepped out onto Irving Place with my ears ringing and my vocal cords stretched, recalling the concerts I attended when I was the age of the Skins.  So get out there and see a show.  You owe it to yourself to smile for over an hour straight.

THE HEAVY – 08.30.12 – IRVING PLAZA (1 hour, 17 minutes)

SET –

Can’t Play Dead / What You Want Me to Do? / Sixteen / Cause for Alarm / Short Change Hero / Curse Me Good / The Big Bad Wolf / What Makes a Good Man? / Same Ol’ / A Lesson Learned / Don’t Say Nothing / Blood Dirt Love Stop / Just My Luck

ENCORE –

Girl > All Day & All of the Night (tease) > Hello, I Love You (tease) / Happy Birthday / Brukpocket's Interlude / How You Like Me Now?

Sharon Jones and the Daptone Family Come Home

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings treated a hometown Brooklyn crowd to funky free show at Williamsburg Park on Saturday night.  Afrobeat-revivalists Antibalas and the Latin funk of the Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow were perfect appetizers to the main course: different flavors, but complementary.

I showed up about a half-hour before doors to take my spot in a line of maybe a thousand people.  My friend and I grabbed a nice spot in the center and sat upon a cloud that felt a lot like concrete.  A minute after 6pm, the Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow took the stage.  Led by the Dap-Kings' baritone sax player, Cochemea Gastelum, and filled out with various members of both the Dap-Kings and Antibalas, the Electric Sound crafted some Latin jazz-inspired grooves that travelled easily on the summer breeze.  The band played 44 minutes of what Gastelum repeatedly stressed was original music.  Someone must've gotten on his case about being too derivative.  Having very limited knowledge of Latin jazz, I didn't hear anything I'd heard before, but oh well.

Keeping the majority of instruments onstage, there was a quick turnover before Antibalas.  Opening with "Dirty Money," the single off their brand new self-titled album, the band laid down a churning chowder of Nigerian funk for face-painted singer Amayo to shout his cautionary lyrics over.  With a 7-piece horn section that included the Daptone Horns, they followed with two more new tracks, "The Rat Catcher" and "Him Belly No Go Sweet," before launching into one of the best live Marley covers I've ever heard, "Rat Race."  Antibalas stripped the song of its reggae properties, and like Marcus Garvey, took it back to Africa for a fiery Afrobeat version.  Serving as the pit band for Fela!, the members of Antibalas are no strangers to the music of Fela Kuti, and excited the crowd with their take on "Opposite People," a song not in the musical.  Amayo remarked that real Afrobeat to him "makes me want to rip my clothes off, get naked, and dance."  While both he and the crowd remained clothed, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was real Afrobeat.  They dedicated the show to Pussy Riot and another pussy, a recently departed cat named Igor.

While the concert could've ended there and still impressed everyone, the sparkly letters on the backdrop that had been taunting us all night, "SJDK," foretold of a headliner that always commands the crowd's full attention: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.  The suited members, many of whom had been seen earlier in the evening, took their places and started pumping out the shuffling introduction music as Binky Griptite stepped up to the microphone.  After leading the group through Dyke & the Blazers' "Broadway Combination," Binky welcomed the Dap-Ettes, Saundra Williams and Starr Duncan, who flaunted their vocal talents with covers of "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" and "Stop."  Based on range alone, either woman could front the Dap-Kings, but only one woman has the attitude necessary to get what she wants from the boiling funk of her band and the audience, and that woman is Sharon Jones.

Jones tried to sneak onto the stage from the right side, and even though she's small, her canary yellow dress ("I call this dress Vitamin C.") gave her away.  But of course, it's all part of the show that is a Sharon Jones concert.  I've seen Sharon Jones three times now (All for free I might add.), and while I knew the show would be a fun time, I was worried that it would fall into scripted territory too easily.  But releasing Soul Time!, a collection of rarities, earlier this year, refreshed the setlist, as well as the addition of three new songs to be featured on an upcoming album.  Sure, the requisite dance lesson in "When I Come Home" was there, but Jones skipped the usual pull-a-good-looking guy-from-the-crowd-to-sing-to-on-"My Man is a Mean Man"-bit in favor of coaxing solos out of each bandmember.  With both the touring and session bands onstage, it took a while to get through the extended Dap-King family, but it never got boring.

Some slight missteps were a not-so-memorable cover of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and new song "Calamity," which steals its phrasing from "I Will Survive."  However, an awesomely drawn-out rendition of "100 Days, 100 Nights" made up for it and stole the show, Jones admitting, "I don't wanna go.  That's why I'm trying to stall on this song a bit."  But the curfew prevailed, and Binky Griptite began his outro, Sharon dancing her way offstage.

With musicians shared between groups and their relatives watching just offstage (including little ones in hearing protector earmuffs), it was clear that Daptone isn't just a label, but a family.  The multiethnic bands of Daptone Records, with members of varying age, prove that music can unite people.  The multiethnic audience, with members of varying age, proved that.

ANTIBALAS – 08.18.12 – WILLIAMSBURG PARK (1 hour, 16 minutes)

SET –

Dirty Money / The Rat Catcher / Him Belly No Go Sweet / Rat Race / Battle of the Species > Beaten Metal > Battle of the Species / Opposite People / Dreaming* / Sáré Kon Kon

SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS – 08.18.12 – WILLIAMSBURG PARK (1 hour, 26 minutes)

SET –

Introduction > Broadway Combination / You Can Run But You Can’t Hide > Stop > Introduction > I’ll Still Be True / You’ll Be Lonely / When I Come Home / The Game Gets Old / Retreat / I Heard It Through the Grapevine / Longer & Stronger / He Said I Can / My Man is a Mean Man > I Learned the Hard Way / Calamity / 100 Days, 100 Nights