NYS Music 20​18

Author: TJ Drucker

  • Jamiroquai returns to NYC after 13 year absence

    The last time Jamiroquai graced NYC with its presence, they sold out the newly opened Nokia Theater Times Square for two nights back in 2005. The band was hot off the heels of their latest release, Dynamite, and it seemed like the United States could not get enough of their frontman, Jay Kay. Fast forward to 2018 and the East Coast was aching for some Jamiroquai news. After teasing 4 U.S. dates via Twitter, it was finally announced that their triumphant return to NYC would occur on September 8 at the Forest Hills Stadium in Queens.

    Saturday finally arrived and the crowd did as well to a day full of drizzle and promise. Gangstarr’s DJ Premier took the stage at 7 pm to start a massive dance party for anyone that beat the traffic. The legendary producer spun ’90s hip hop tracks for the ever-growing crowd to get down to as the sky continued to open up on everyone that arrived. He warmed up the crowd for 45 minutes before the stage was set for the main act.

    Jamiroquai NYCJust after 8 pm, the enormous screen on stage lit up and the band members began to assemble as Jay Kay ran on stage to a thunderous applause. As Jay’s helmet moved up and down while changing colors, they started things out with “Shake It On,” off of the new album, Automaton, before diving into 2001’s “Little L” off of A Funk Odyssey. The party continued with “Use The Force” and the always funky “Space Cowboy.”

    “Alright” from Traveling Without Moving kicked the crowd into fifth gear and gave everyone the opportunity to sing along with Jay during the chorus. He brought it back to 2018 with “Dr Buzz” off the new album and followed that up with the hit, “(Don’t) Give Hate a Chance.” Continuing the hop between decades, they dove into “Main Vein” as the rain started coming down a little harder. No precipitation was going to keep this crowd from enjoying their night and the classic “Runaway” was the perfect soundtrack to the weather. Jay was met with a phenomenal cheer as he sang the opening lyrics, “Can you dig it? There’s something in the air tonight”.

    Jamiroquai knows what their fans love and “Cosmic Girl” could not have come at a better time in the show. This psychedelic disco track illuminated the crowd as they continued to lose their minds before Jay slowed things down and treated everyone to the slow version of “Emergency on Planet Earth” off of their debut album. Soon enough, the sounds of Jay’s Lamborghini Diablo SE30 could be heard over the speakers as they dove into “Travelling Without Moving.”

    The crowd exploded with cheers as they started “Canned Heat” and I certainly saw at least a dozen ‘Vote for Pedro’ shirts dancing harder than anyone else. Jay allowed his bandmates to really jam out this song and the funky beat never stopped. The last song of the set was 2002’s “Love Foolosophy” and the crowd could not have been more receptive of this choice. Jay thankfully understood the strict 10 pm curfew enforced by the venue, so without leaving the stage, they dove headfirst into their most popular hit, “Virtual Insanity.” The crowd and the band gave it all they had as 10 pm approached. Amidst a roaring applause, Jay promised they would be back and we couldn’t have been happier.

  • Hearing Aide: The Big Sip ‘Sip Responsibly’

    America is in the midst of a funk revival and no place is currently funkier than Middlebury, Vermont. Home to The Big Sip, this town has helped the quartet grow their sound since they met on the Middlebury College campus in 2016. With Evan Mercer on the drums, Jack Cattabiani on the bass, Nick Schrope on the keys and Matt Dienar tackling the vocals and guitar, it’s easy to see why they have gained such popularity over the last two years. 

    This past June, The Big Sip unveiled their 2nd release, Sip Responsibly, their follow-up to 2017’s debut EP, Music for Clapping. This fantastic album starts with an immediate gem titled “The Worst of It”. On the first listen, the Elton John and Zappa influences drip out of the speakers but that similarity doesn’t do the track justice. This bubbly lounge song grows on you immediately with its slow crawling groove and sharp beat. 

    Following this is “Midnight Snek”, which sounds like a track from Sonic Spinball, my favorite 1993 Genesis game. When the band plays together, it’s organized cacophony with the guitarist’s high notes bringing the track to a whole new level. This song is very fun in a Richard Cheese kind of way and has a plucky solo to end the jam in this track. Jack really sets the stage for the third track, “Skucking Funks” with his infectious bass line.  Matt balances the vocals incredibly well with his guitar in this song and Nick’s synthy goodness is really apparent in the chorus. Overall this song has a rhythm to it that immediately gets stuck in your head as soon as you hit ‘Play’. 

    The second half of the album begins with “Parking in the Parking Lot”, which takes the mood down a notch with its soulful verses and emotional chorus. The guitar in the intro sounds like rays of sunshine peeking through the clouds while the beat drifts along like a summer breeze. The jam in this song is equally impressive when it takes a little walk, building up more and more before shimmering and diving back into the vocals again. 

    “Two Hips / One Night” starts off with some spooky synthesizer before the band kicks into the groove you’ve come to expect with this album. This song has a lovely mix of different styles and also features a spectacular saxophone solo from Jack to end the track. 

    The Big Sip concludes this album with a truly magical rendition of “Valerie”, the Amy Winehouse classic hit. The track itself starts off slow and unassuming with a lovely organ solo but grows as the first verse unfolds into the famous chorus. For a band that started out covering Vulfpeck tracks, it’s really nice to see them return to form with a cover of this caliber. 

    Sip Responsibly is a magnificent release from the Big Sip and an impressive follow-up to last year’s debut EP. Do your ears a favor and check them out on Bandcamp.

    Key Tracks: The Worst of It, Midnight Snek

  • Dweezil Zappa Brings ‘Choice Cuts’ Tour to The Egg

    The Zappa family has always loved Upstate New York. Frank opened his 1988 U.S. tour at the Palace Theater and his son, Dweezil Zappa, has continued that love for the area on his runs. Coming to The Egg for the first time since 2016, he played everyone’s favorite tunes during this ‘Choice Cuts’ tour. With his usual band of eccentric members, they set expectations high and delivered all night.

    Dweezil Zappa The Egg

    As the band members came on stage, the show started into “The Purple Lagoon (Intro)” before Dweezil came out to a thunderous applause. Wasting no time, they started the 1975 favorite, “Andy” and then began the originally unreleased “Lonely Little Girl”. “Flakes” included its usual Bob Dylan homage and a new Eric Cartman section which was hilariously performed by Scheila Gonzalez. Cian Coey took the mic for “Fifty Fifty” and did not let her foot cast stop her from rockin’. Dweezil took it on himself to deliver a blistering solo to end the song and then took them band into “Po-jama People”.

    Before the next song, he paused to tell the crowd that it was “great that Albany loves Zappa so much” and then surprised everyone with the “James Bond Theme” which segued perfectly into “Studebaker Hoch”. A lovely “Rollo” medley was followed by an explanation that the next song couldn’t originally be played live because certain feedback techniques were not possible to recreate outside of the studio. Using modern technology, they all brought “Absolutely Free” to life and followed it with “Call Any Vegetable” and “Tell Me You Love Me”, which features some great keyboard work from Chris Norton.

    Pausing again to chat with the audience, Mr. Zappa proclaimed that the theme of the show was “It’s so fucking great to be alive”. He went on to say that of all the songs his father composed, his favorite was this next song, “Dog Meat”. The beautiful clamor had people on their feet cheering for more, so the band declared, “And now for something completely different” before launching into AC/DC’s “Back in Black”. Bassist Kurt Morgan was dressed to impress as Angus Young and really shined during this track.

    Next up were two “songs from the 80’s” called as “Cocaine Decisions” and “Drowning Witch” before jumping back decades to play “Sleeping In A Jar” and “Florentine Pogen”. Dweezil was happy to announce that it was now ‘Unreleased Time’ and played a song called “Sleep Napkins”, which is a combination of “Black Napkins” and “Sleep Dirt”. Drummer Ryan Brown tore the roof down with his exceptional drumming during both “The Black Page # 1” and “The Black Page # 2” and led the band into everyone’s favorite, “Peaches en Regalia”.

    Zappa was more than just a musician and in 1971, Frank directed the movie 200 Motels. Unsurprisingly, he also wrote the soundtrack too and Dweezil brought the classic “This Town is a Sealed Tuna Sandwich” to life for the enthusiastic audience. Jumping to the other end of the decade, the band started into everyone’s favorite, “Keep It Greasy” and when it finished, Dweezil started talking to the crowd about his all-time favorite Zappa songs and said this next one was high on the list. “Cheepnis” became everyone’s favorite by the time it was over and they followed that with “Son of Orange County” before ending the two-and-a-half hour set with “Trouble Every Day”.

    After a few minutes offstage, everyone came back to a roaring crowd as Dweezil told a story about a failed jingle that his father wrote back in the day. It was for Remington Electric Razor’s and it was to be performed with Linda Ronstadt. They were paid for their work, but the company was not a fan of the song. “Remington Electric Razor Jingle” was followed by a lovely version of “Oh, In The Sky” performed by Adam Minkoff. Dweezil let loose with another jaw-dropping solo during “Muffin Man” before they ended the night with “The Purple Lagoon (Reprise)”.

  • David Byrne Continues American Utopia Tour In Kingston, NY

    David Byrne brought his American Utopia Tour to Kingston at the Ulster Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 10. This was the 6th show on his new tour, which he claimed would be “the most ambitious show I’ve done since the shows that were filmed for Stop Making Sense.” David hired 11 other musicians to create this performance which would “allow everyone to be mobile on an empty stage”. The lack of wires (and lack of shoes) enabled David to create a performance unlike anything he has attempted before.

    Audience members entered the venue to see a single table on stage with a model of the human brain atop it. The borders of the stage area were lined with a lightweight, semi-opaque chain which allowed the performers to move through it with ease while also perfectly casting shadows onto it. While not yet apparent, the stage design and lack of wires would allow the performers to move freely about the stage in a way not seen in traditional concerts.

    The show started with “Here,” the final track on David’s new album, American Utopia. This was followed by the 2002 track “Lazy,” which he co-wrote with the English House duo X-Press 2. This upbeat change from the first song got the crowd excited as he went into his first Talking Heads cover of the night. The audience all stood at once as the opening beats of “I Zimbra” began to take hold. All six of the percussionists picked by Byrne brought this song to life as they moved back and forth on stage with the tempo and dazzled the crowd with their syncopated melody.

    The Talking Heads songs continued as David led the band into “Slippery People,” which features an interesting vocal breakdown towards the end of the song. The covers continued with “I Should Watch TV,” a song featured on the collaboration between David and St Vincent from 2012. As the lights turned red and the performers got into a single line on stage, “Dogs Mind” changed the mood of the show. Three of the drummers moved their instruments up and down to the tempo as the performers slowly moved closer to the stage during this moving piece.

    Continuing with tracks from his new release, David took his performers into “Everybody’s Coming to My House” before bringing the crowd to their feet with “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody).” He continued to delight the audience with his classic gyrations as he brought the band into “Once In A Lifetime”. David kept one drummer on stage to perform with him during “Doing The Right Thing.” While performing this new track, the other percussionists were almost hidden behind the edges of the stage, as their instruments were the only thing visible to the crowd.

    Before continuing, David told the crowd that they were going to play a song by a “man who goes by the name of Fatboy Slim, who made a wonderful video for this song.” The crowd was delighted as he went into “Toe Jam” before introducing the band to everyone. The Talking Heads classics continued with “Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On).” This upbeat gem ended with the stage lights turning off, and when they turned on, each member of the band was lying on stage except for the keyboardist. David stood up as the song began and the rest of the band slowly followed him one-by-one. The highlight of this track was the band dancing silently before the final chorus ended the song.

    “Bullet” was one of the most intriguing tracks of the evening. A single lamp containing a naked bulb was brought on stage. This prop contained the only wire to grace the stage all evening and David used this single light source to play with the shadows forming on the back of the stage. The band walked in a clockwise circle around Byrne as he described a bullet slowly entering a body in detail. By the end of the song, he was the only remaining person on stage as the band had been slowly exiting. The circular theme continued with “Everyday is a Miracle” as the band stood in a circle. David faced the audience as the band faced inward until halfway through the song when he moved into the circle, starting a mini conga-line on stage. This silly but upbeat track ended with a patiently executed trust fall before going into the 2001 crowd favorite “Like Humans Do”.

    David continued to play with the lights during the hit song “Blind.” This song featured a single light at the front of the stage which cast an enormous shadow of David. The band proceeded to move around in such a way as to exaggerate their shadows on the backdrop and this continued until an incredibly funky drum solo ended the song. The set concluded with the Talking Heads highest-charting single “Burning Down The House.” The energy of the entire show culminated in this performance and the applause was deafening as the band left the stage.

    Another Fatboy Slim collaboration started the first encore as David Byrne came out to “Dancing Together” from their musical Here Lies Love. The Talking Heads classic “The Great Curve” finished up the encore with a scorching guitar solo from Angie Swan at the end. To everyone’s surprise, David and the band came out without their grey suit jackets to perform Janelle Monoe’s “Hell You Talmbout.” David and company put all of their might into this rousing encore and there was an apparent sense of satisfaction in performing this for the Kingston audience. David ended the show in his usual fashion by saying, “thank you” in a way that only he can.

  • “Weird Al” Yankovic opens his weirdest tour to date in Poughkeepsie

    “Weird Al” Yankovic opened “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour” in Poughkeepsie, NY on Tuesday, February 27. While past tours have featured giant video screens, costumes changes and parody-heavy setlists, Al included a disclaimer on his website stating that this tour is “a scaled-down tour in smaller, more intimate theaters, with limited production (no costumes, props, or video screens) and Al’s set list will be comprised almost entirely of his original (non-parody) songs.” The sold-out crowd of 950 was treated to the comic stylings of Emo Philips, featured in the movie UHF as Joe Earley. Al hand-picked him to open for the entire tour and his absurd 30 minute set had the audience roaring with laughter.


    Yankovic’s band took the stage at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House and laid down an instrumental version of “Dare to be Stupid” before the man himself arrived to a massive fanfare. His first song of the tour was the White Stripes pastiche, ‘CNR.’ Al took it down for a minute to warn the crowd that tonight was in fact, their “soundcheck” and that “if you came to see me screw up, you will not be disappointed!”. He did not disappoint as he dove into the Bob Dylan’esque ‘Bob’ and the 2003 favorite, ‘Why Does This Always Happen To Me?”

    After fooling the audience into thinking that this tour would not feature costumes, parodies or accordions, Al finally brought out his new MIDI-accordion as the band started into “Generic Blues.” This classic track from the UHF soundtrack was followed up by the Hawaiian Reggae tune, “Buy Me a Condo.” The 9-minute epic “Jackson Park Express” was played for the first time live as the weirdness continued. Next up was the 2011 hit “Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me” before Al channeled the Lizard King with his Doors homage, “Craigslist.”

    Al continued the set with one of his darker songs, “Good Old Days,” an example of what would happen if James Taylor collaborated with Charlie Manson. The band lightened the mood with the song “Happy Birthday” from his debut album before taking it down a notch with the anti-love ballad, “You Don’t Love Me Anymore.” “Party At The Leper Colony,” one of the bands “Top 3 Immature Songs” preceded the 2006 hit, “Don’t Download This Song” and the Don Henley inspired “When I Was Your Age.” Weird Al continued the 80’s hits with “Melanie” and “One More Minute” before changing the pace of the concert.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BfwhNj3nagt/?hl=en&taken-by=nystatemusic

    Despite announcing a lack of parody songs prior to the tour, Al dove into a medley of his comedy hits as the band played differing music underneath. The band started playing a wonderful rendition of “Layla” as Al sang the lyrics to his hit “Eat It.” This led into “I Lost On Jeopardy” with a walking baseline before switching over to chimes and acoustic guitar for “Amish Paradise.” “Smells Like Nirvana,” “White and Nerdy” And “Rocky Road” had a mix of bouncy pop and doo wop behind it before a piano heavy rendition of “Like A Surgeon” ended the set.

    Weird Al and his bandmates came back out to “play a song they usually end each show with.” The audience was dumbstruck as the band started playing the guitar riff to Deep Purple’s, “Smoke On The Water.” This was no parody as Al wow’d the crowd with a spectacular, normal, regular version of this track. Not to disappoint, Al ended the show with fan-favorite, “The Saga Begins” before thanking the crowd for a wonderful show.

    Weird Al will continue his tour March 13th in Buffalo, March 14th in Ithaca, March 17th in Huntington and March 22nd and 23rd at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

  • Circles Around the Sun finishes January Run at Capitol Theater

    Since their subtle debut at Fare Thee Well and their official debut at 2016’s Lockn Festival, Circles Around the Sun has been delighting crowds across the country. The band finished their 2018 January tour in Port Chester on Saturday, January 20 after a sold-out show at the Brooklyn Bowl the night before. The band’s third visit to the Brooklyn venue featured ‘Hola!’ as an opener and the Stella Blue Band, a Capitol Theater favorite, opening Saturday’s show with special guest drummer, Josh Dates from the Reflections.

    circles around the sun capitol
    Photo by Matthew Mendenhall courtesy of Circles Around The Sun’s press release.

    The quartet began their first ever Capitol Theater show with the first two songs from their 2015 album, Interludes For The Dead. The crowd gathered close as the band dove into ’Gilbert’s Groove’ and ‘Hallucinate A Solution’ before launching into their new song, ‘Chuck.’ This new track starts with a laid-back groove and plenty of blissful keys from keyboardist, Adam MacDougall. He and guitarist Neal Casal play off of each other while bassist Dan Horne leads them through each melodic key change in this fantastic new material.

    They continued the set with ‘Scarlotta’s Magnolias’ and ‘Saturday’s Children’ before ending with crowd-favorite, ‘Farewell Franklins.’ This closer had everyone smiling as much as drummer Mark Levy, who happily kept beat and grinned all night long. Neal and the boys ended the night and the tour with ‘Ginger Says’ and thanked everyone who came out before taking off. This may be the end of their first run of 2018, but the band has already said they will have more dates for us soon.

  • JRAD sells out three nights at The Capitol Theatre

    Joe Russo’s Almost Dead started off 2018 with a string of sold out shows at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY this past weekend. The band debuted six new songs during the run and teased countless more throughout the weekend.

    Friday’s show kicked things off with an intro Jam that made its way into “Brown Eyed Woman” and an extended “Jack Straw.” “Shakedown Street” with a “Here Comes Sunshine” Jam to close the first set is a must-hear if you weren’t at the show. The second set opened with “Rosa Lee McFall,” a Charlie Monroe cover that the Grateful Dead played 18 times throughout their career and last on 10/27/80. This set also featured JRAD’s first “Atlantic City” since 4/28/17.

    The boys came out swinging on Saturday with a debut each time they came on stage. “Pride of Cucamonga” was well-received in between “They Love Each Other” and “Playing In The Band” in the first set and Led Zeppelin’s “Your Time Is Going To Come” flowed from a fantastic “I Need A Miracle.” They saved the best for last with an encore starting with a Marco Benevento solo into Chuck Berry’s “The Festival.” Marco took the lead on this song about a music festival featuring The Band, The Who, CCR, The Beatles, Hendrix, Joplin and of course, The Grateful Dead.

    Sunday closed the weekend with two more debuts and the return of Stuart Bogie for a number of songs. He last joined up with the band during their October Brooklyn Bowl run and he especially shined during the debuts of “Chinatown Shuffle” and Dr. Feelgood’s “She Does It Right” during the encore. However, the highlight of the night was the “Dancing In The Streets” that ended the second set. It was spacey 27 minutes of bliss as the band teased Dire Straits as well as others to end the last full set of the weekend.

    Joe Russo’s Almost Dead returns to New York on March 15 in Syracuse and March 16 in Albany.

    Tune into the shows on Relisten Friday 1/12/18, Saturday 1/13/18 and Sunday 1/14/18