NYS Music 20​14

Tag: gogol bordello

  • moe.down 15 Comes Back to the Festival’s Original Time and Place

    moe.down 15 is set for its return Labor Day Weekend  at the Snow Ridge Ski Resort in Turin, N.Y.

    After moving to a different location several years ago, the fest is finally back to the original time and place where it all began. There’s no doubt that moe. fans and live music lovers are pleased by the announcement.md2

    moe.down began at the Snow Ridge Ski Resort in 2000 with around 3,000 people in attendance and has since grown to become home to roughly 10,000 music revelers for Labor Day Weekend. More important than the time and location of the festival, is the band that started it all, moe.. The Rock/Jam quintet has had a revolving cast since their forming at the University of Buffalo in 1989, with Rob Derhak and Chuck Garvey being the only original members remaining. moe. has become a veteran and staple of the festival scene, getting their start at Gathering of the Vibes in 1998.md3

    This year’s line-up will include moe., Gogol Boredello, O.A.R., Lotus, Soulive, Les Claypool’s Due De Twang, Jerry Douglas Band, The Rich Robinson Band, Everyone Orchestra, Twiddle, Floodwood, Aqueous, The Werks, Conehead Buddha, American Babies, and Wild Adriatic. Representing the Upstate New York area is Aqueous of Buffalo, known for their Groove/Rock style, Conehead Buddha with their Latin and funk rhythms hailing from Coxsackie, Floodwood and their unforgettable String Band sound from Utica, Wild Adriatic of Saratoga Springs, and of course moe..

    The festival grounds at the Snow Ridge Ski Resort are a beautiful and well suited are for the event, with the ski slopes for seating. There are two stages on the grounds, with numerous vendors selling many different types of food and other goods. Two support groups for festivalgoers can be found; Yodeladies, a women’s support group and The Happy Hour Heroes, an AA Support group. Both being named after moe. songs. The adjacent hills are used as camping grounds, separated into Family and Sober, Quiet and Regular camping areas. A Kid’s Tent is set up during the day from 12-4pm for parents needing their young ones supervised. Snow Ridge Ski Resort is also right next to the local Steak N’ Brew for anyone wanting an actual meal at the fest.md1

    moe.down has been host to many big name headliners over the last 15 years, besides moe. themselves. Past headlining acts include Stanley Jordan Trio, Umphrey’s McGee, Slightly Stupid, The Black Keys, Cake, Redman and Method Man, Ani DiFranco, Yonder Mountain String Band, Bela Fleck, The Roots, Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood, Ziggy Marley, Keller Williams, Tea Leaf Green, Violent Femmes, Blues Traveler, Mike Gordon, Michael Franti and Spearhead, John Brown’s Body, Donna the Buffalo, Soulive, The Wailers, Dave Grissam Quartet, and Les Claypool.

    moe.down 15 will provide a nice mix of Jam, Rock, Funk, and Bluegrass for live music lovers from the Upstate area and abroad. The beautiful grounds, wholesome environment, and good music can be a perfect end of the summer getaway for any type of person. The fest starts Friday, August 29th and will end Sunday the 31st. Tickets are on sale now for $150 and may also be bought at the gate. Parking for the weekend will be an addition $10. More information can be found at the moe.down website.

    moe.down 15 Festival Playlist

    Warm yourself up for moe.down 15 with a preview playlist of this year’s preforming artists.

    Performers on the playlist include moe., Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang, O.A.R., Soulive, Lotus, Floodwood, Aqueous, Twiddle, and The Werks. Be sure to check out the upcoming moe.down 15 Festival Preview via NYS Music Music Guide.

    moe.down 15 will be held on Labor Day weekend, August 29-31, at the Snow Ridge Ski Resort in Turin, N.Y. For tickets, please visit the band’s website.

    [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/46505533″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

  • Gypsy Punk Icons Gogol Bordello Played Host to a Melting Pot of Fans

    A small congregation of people waited outside of Upstate Concert Hall on Tuesday, July 22nd.  Much smaller than one might suspect, on a night helmed by gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello.  But, more people did show for the performance as the night went on, possibly in part for the ‘Upstate Common Sense’ on tap behind the bar, instilling in the 500 plus crowd a feeling of liquid camaraderie.  Gogol Bordello has a reputation for bringing a combo platter of life together for an all-inclusive party atmosphere, and by the end of the night, this was exactly the case.  The gypsy punk band, with members from all over the world, brought quite the spectacle to Clifton Park once again.

    20140722-ManMan-01

    The show opened with the raucous energy of Man Man from Philadelphia.  Experimental rockers at their core, they descended onto the stage with a wall of sound and main singer/keyboardist Honus Honus presiding over the crowd in a sparkling hooded cape and his trademark mustache.  With a hurried explosion of notes, Man Man started their set with what sounded like the middle of it. Cheering along at full intensity immediately, the crowd fell right in step.  The four-piece switched instruments constantly, and between horns, strings and percussion, they welcomed the masses into their chaos.  Pow Pow the drummer acted as de-facto conductor for the band and the audience, keeping the White Stripes meets Frank Zappa vibe at peak energy the entire set.   By the end, the crowd was hungry for more.

    The crowd exemplified the feeling of the night — the idea that no matter who you are, you would belong, here, at this show.  People shirtless with multicolored LED gloves, or fedoras over dreadlocks, or metal shirts and ripped jeans, all were welcomed and more.  The lights dimmed and the crowd coalesced into one singular being, eager and willing as Eugene Hutz, the leader of Gogol Bordello, took the stage.  He vocalized the feeling of the night and asked the audience, “Where did we leave off last time?  Let’s pick it up right there.”  He started the show alone, with a single spotlight for the aptly titled “Illumination”, with the entire band joining him by the end.  They played their dirty, infectious gypsy grooves in expert fashion, from a band honed by constant touring.

    20140722-GogolBordello-01

    The sound was great, allowing the crowd to pick out all the intricacies of the band, from the extra percussion, to the accordion and violin solos, to the subtle, but powerful, five-part vocal harmonies.  The presence of Pedro Erazo and Elizabeth Sun, the band’s MCs, extra percussionists, and hype man and woman, add to the deliberate crowd control that Gogol emits.  At one point, Hutz anointed the congregation with a bottle of wine as he sang “Immigraniada” and brought the audience to a fever pitch.  They left the stage, and not a soul moved, waiting for instruction to proceed.  The show had stripped the audience down to it’s innocence, and the band came back to emulate this, starting their three song encore with  “Lost Innocent World”.

    One thing can always be certain of a Gogol Bordello performance:  it will be an experience to remember.  One of the hardest working bands in the business, and it shows, they continue to enthrall audiences and provide tasty morsels of world-class rock, punk and folk to keep the audience eating right out of their hands.

    Photo by Jim 'JT' Gilbert
    Photo by Jim ‘JT’ Gilbert
    Set List: Illumination, Ultimate, Rise Again, Wonderlust King, Dig Deep Enough, Other Side of the Rainbow, Companjera, TC Hustle, Immigraniada, Mishto, Rise the Knowledge, Malandrino, Purple, Pala Tute, Sun Is On My Side, Not a Crime.
    Encore: Lost Innocent World, Alcohol, Think Locally.

  • Gogol Bordello Bounces Through Burlington

    The show started with Eugene, of course. Gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello is very much about making music as a collective, but at the same time it’s very much about lead singer Eugene Hutz, a thickly accented Ukrainian with Roma (Gypsy) ancestry who moved to Burlington, Vt., in 1992 as a political refugee with his family.

    Traditional Gypsy music was piped in as a shirtless Eugene, wine bottle in hand and guitar strapped to his back, strutted onto the stage Saturday night at Burlington’s Higher Ground, for what the band called on Facebook a“long awaited homecoming show.”

    Eugene was soon followed onto stage by the rest of the band: violin player Sergey Ryabtsev, bassist Thomas Gobena, drummer Oliver Charles, guitar player Michael Ward, accordion player Pasha Newmerzhitsky, and Pedro Erazo-Segovia and Elizabeth Sun, who both do vocals and percussion.

    Lutz played the guitar and sang the beginning of “Illumination” telling the crowd, “You are the only light there is for yourself my friends.” The rest of the band joined in after a verse. That lighter song made way to “Ultimate” a song with a heavy up and down beat that got the entire crowd jumping already, just two songs into the show.

    IMG_1611

    They went on to rock through 15 more songs — including five from the band’s newest album, Pura Vida Conspiracy released in 2013 — plus four encore tunes. They also ripped through older hits like “Start Wearing Purple” “Think Locally, Act Globally” and “Not a Crime”.

    The crowd was super engaged, with the entire floor area bouncing with the beats. The pit was intense and sweaty but not too scary, and crowd surfers popped up here and there but weren’t a regular occurrence. The frantic rhythms did chill out at points to drum jams and bass solos, then they would pick back up again, working the audience into a frenzy.

    Eugene was a lot of fun, asking the crowd, “Ya dig, ya dig, ya dig, ya dig?” and interacting plenty in between songs. He yelled to the audience to start a circle pit, and he spilled red wine all over the audience as he used the same hand to hold up his mic and bottle, while he shook his guitar in the air with his other hand. He even made fun of audience members toward the end of the show for acting like they were tired. Saturday was the second in a two-night run for Gogol at Higher Ground, and Eugene said he had tired them out too much.

    The other band members were all interesting characters, too. Elizabeth looked like she wanted to cast a spell on you as she waved her arms around and leaned into her mic. Pasha, who looked like a British soccer hooligan, somehow made accordion playing look sexy as he energetically pumped the instrument. Pedro added some hip hop elements as he growled into the mic and pounded a drum he had strapped to his chest.

    With eight people on the stage, you’d think it would turn into a bit of a mess, especially when they’re all as energetic as this crowd of musicians. But they placed platforms at the front of the stage, so Eugene could jump up there when the spirit took him, or Elizabeth and Pedro could flank him on there when there was a big vocal moment, or Thomas could jump up when the bass line was featured.

    At times the movement looked coordinated, but at others, it seemed as though musicians were coming, going and lounging around on stage doing their own thing, giving it a feel of a Gypsy camp.

    There were two cameras filming the entire show, one from in front of the stage and one from farther back, for a documentary being made about the band, so watch for shots of Higher Ground when it comes out!

    Gogol Bordello has several other dates coming up around New York state, including Port Chester Saturday, July 19; Clifton Park Tuesday, July 22; and Rochester Saturday, July 26. To see their show date, go to www.gogolbordello.com. For info about other shows at Higher Ground, go to www.highergroundmusic.com.

  • Gypsy punk With Gogol Bordello Coming to Burlington, VT

    Gogol Bordello 2013 Press Photo

    Gogol Bordello is bringing its Gypsy punk craziness to the Higher Ground Ballroom in Burlington, Vermont on July 11 and 12.

    The band plays a rousing form of punk rock heavily influenced by gypsy music and punctuated by lead singer Eugene Hutz’s thick Ukrainian accent. Hutz’s first American home was Vermont, after his Ukrainian family left their home following the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown and shifted through a string of Eastern European refugee camps.

    Their website includes an interesting artist’s statement that describes their mission:

    “Gogol Bordello’s task is to provoke audience out of post-modern aesthetic swamp onto a neo-optimistic communal movement towards new sources of authentic energy. With acts of music, theatre, chaos and sorcery Gogol Bordello confronts the jaded and irony-deseased.

    We chose to work with gypsy, cabaret and punk traditions. It’s what we know and feel.”

    The band released its sixth studio album in 2013, Pura Vida Conspiracy, and they have been touring around the world since then to promote it. They are just getting off a two-month-long jaunt through Europe, and they’ll be in Burlington after a few gigs in Canada.

    Higher Ground is located at 1214 Williston Road in South Burlington. For tickets or more information, go to www.highergroundmusic.com.

  • Listen Up Punk: Gogol Bordello Tour Across NY

    NYC-based gypsy punk rockers Gogol Bordello bring their eclectic sounds to several Upstate favorite spots this summer. Bordello has built a devout following over the past 15 years and these are sure to be hot tickets.

    7/11-7-12 Higher Ground, Burlington VT

    7/19 The Capitol Theatre, Portchester, NY

    7/22 Upstate Concert Hall, Clifton Park, NY

    7/26 Main Street Armory, Rochester, NY