On April 19, Cypress Hill hit Brooklyn Steel for their “We Legalized It 2024 Tour.” The show was the second stop on their tour, with Souls of Mischief and The Pharcyde performing as the opening acts. The timing couldn’t have been better, coming right before the weed holiday, 4/20.
B-Real
The night kicked off with Souls of Mischief and The Pharcyde getting the crowd pumped up. But when Cypress Hill took the stage, the energy went through the roof. They played hits, like “Hand on the Pump,” “Tequila Sunrise” and “Latin Lingo,” getting everyone hyped.
The highlight of the night was when Cypress Hill did a special weed-themed melody, mixing songs like “Roll it Up, Light it Up,” “I Wanna Get High,” and “Dr. Greenthumb.” It was the perfect way to get everyone in the mood for 4/20.
The Pharcyde
Cypress Hill are pioneers in the movement for weed legalization. For years, their music has been synonymous with cannabis culture, advocating for its decriminalization and celebrating its medicinal properties. Now, as New York joins the growing list of states where weed is legal, Cypress Hill’s message feels more relevant than ever. Their music has been a soundtrack for the fight for legalization, and now, as the law changes, their influence continues to be felt. It’s a testament to their impact on both music and society as a whole.
Cypress Hill
Setlist: Cock the Hammer, Real Estate, Hand on the Pump, When the Shit Goes Down, A to the K, Phuncky Feel One, Tequila Sunrise, Low Rider, Latin Lingo, Stoned is the Way, Roll It Up, Light It Up, I Wanna Get High, Dr Greenthumb, Cisco Kid, Dr Greenthumb, Hits From the Bong, Illusions, Boom Biddy Bye Bye, Throw ya Set, Ain’t Going Out, How I Could Just Kill A Man, Rap Superstar, Insane in the Brain
The year 1974 was when Judas Priest’s debut record, Rocka Rolla was released. Now, 50 years later, the legendary British metal band was in Wallingford, Connecticut on Thursday, April 18 for the first show of their United States leg of a tour in support of their new record, Invincible Shield. Last fall the Toyota Oakdale Theatre hosted the first night of Judas Priest’s 50 Heavy Metal Years Tour with Queensrÿche. This time, the Swedish heavy metal band, Sabaton was the opener for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band.
Judas Priest is coming off a few-month trek of shows in Europe. By the time the band hit the United States, the well-oiled Judas Priest machine was ready to roll. The entire night was a beautiful ceremony of heavy metal that brought fans of all ages and all eras of the band together.
Before Judas Priest took the stage, the previously mentioned Sabaton graced the stage at 7:30. The eager Priest fans cheered for the Swedish natives who had a great following at this show. For the opener, it might take a few songs for the band to win over fans. But, the band – who dressed in camo pants and black tops – won fans over from the first note with their history-inspired lyrics and Amon Amarth’s style of metal.
The band was backed by an army tank which served as a drum riser for Hannes Van Dahl. This hasn’t been seen for some kiss fans since Eric Carr of KISS had his drums on top of a tank during the band’s “Creatures of the Night” tour in the 80s. At one point in the show, the band dawned World War II-style gas masks while they played. Lead singer Joakim Brodén sang through the mask while carrying a large canon-like prop around the stage. Fans around the theatre all gasped in amazement while taking videos on their phones.
Joining Brodén and Van Dahl in Sabaton is Pär Sundström on bass, with Chris Rörland and Thobbe Englund. Englund is rejoining the band after an eight-year absence from the group. It was announced on Feb. 9 that Englund was rejoining and replacing guitarist Tommy Johansson.
England has always produced some of the best heavy metal bands in the world. Arguably, Black Sabbath is at the top of that list. Sabbath and Priest have had a wonderful friendship over the years. Judas Priest lead singer, Rob Halford filled for Black Sabbath singer Ozzy Osbourne on a handful of occasions. It was only fitting for Priest to blast Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” off of 1970’s Paranoidthrough the PA system. In unison, louder than any guitar that night, the crowd belted out lyrics to Sabbath’s famous tune before Judas Priest took to the stage.
With a curtain of the tracklist of the brand-new record, at the forefront of the stage, the lights began to flicker. When the curtain dropped and the band was all cluttered together on a staircase leading to Scott Travis’s drum kit. The band plunged into “Panic Attack” off of the brand-new record. The cheering and screaming from the crowd was deafening as the band spread out on the stage to meet the eager Wallingford crowd. The band played 18 songs that crisscrossed their entire career and spanned their entire discography.
The band sounded as tight as ever. Guitarist Richie Faulkner was prancing around the left side of the stage the entire night. He was a man possessed by his blue Flying V and Explorer guitars. Throughout the night, he was running around the stage, posing at the edge as well as – in KISS-like fashion – throwing guitar picks into the crowd while throwing up the rock and roll horns.
Halford sounded better than ever. His signature screaming and wailing was music in itself to the metal maniacs that had sold out the theatre. Bassist Ian Hill, who is only one of two members in the band from the “classic lineup” stood comfortably towards the band behind guitarist Andy Sneap. Hill would barely move from his spot the entire night yet was the anchor in the rhythm section. Sneap was brought on board to produce the band’s latest two records, 2018’s Firepowerand the new Invincible Shield. He has been in the band as a touring guitarist and producer ever since 2018.
Priest’s iconic cross logo was hung above the stage. With each song, it would light up different colors, shoot lights out and even at one point in the show it moved down towards the front of the stage. People around the theatre all pointed and again, took out their phones to capture the cool moment.
By the time the last song of the night was played, “Living After Midnight,” off of the band’s 1980 album, British Steel and Queen’s “We Are the Champions” was played off the PA system, fans were already talking about when they would be seeing the band next. Judas Priest was brought up with bands like KISS and Aerosmith but at the rate they are going, Priest will still be going for more years to come.
Sabaton setlist: Ghost Divison, The Last Stand, Swedish Pagans, The Red Baron, Bismarck, Stormtroopers, Carolous Rex, Shiroyama, The Attack of the Dead Man, Primo Victoria, Soldier of Heaven, To Hell and Back
Judas Priest setlist: Panic Attack, You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, Rapid Fire, Breaking the Law, Lightning Strike, Love Bites, Devil’s Child, Saints in Hell, Crown of Horns, You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise, Turbo Lover, The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown), Painkiller, Electric Eye, Hell Bent for Leather, Living After Midnight
Electronic music can be confusing. Deciphering the differences between Jungle, Drum & Bass, Dubstep, Techno, House, Trance, and numerous others can be quite the challenge, but also part of the fun. Electro-Soul Beats is a genre that might elude most, but not Atlas B, it’s where he lives. On April 13, at NoFun in Troy, Atlas B performed his unique brand of music.
Using a laptop, an APC 40 controller, and (I assume) Ableton Live, Brian Enders took the audience on a sonic journey that was sample-rich, melodic, often-times wobble-bassey, and just plain fun. And that was just the sound.
Brian Enders A.K.A. Atlas B. is a Clifton Park native and has been making a name for himself locally. Starting in November of 2021 he launched his Atlas B. project using DistroKid to distribute his first single “Aeronautics” and has consistently been producing and performing ever since. He’s no stranger to NoFun as he’s done numerous shows there and packs in a crowd.
The normally darkened scene at NoFun was lit up like a Christmas tree with a gigantic curved LED wall that spanned nearly the entire width of the stage, not to mention the 6 CRT monitors at the foot of the stage. The complex, fractal-like, mirrored animations were a great accent to the hard-driving grooves that boomed throughout the space and spilled into River Street.
Occasionally Atlas B. was joined by Noah Fense Beers for some welcome and well-delivered rap lyrics atop the pristine chunked-out beats, giving the whole show a nice ebb and flow. It highlighted the power of collaboration and how music can be a binding force between people. That force was present between the two performers and it radiated into the audience. That good vibe was brought to the forefront when Ender’s brought out his remix of “Say You’ll Be There” by The Spice Girls. There’s something to be said about an artist that can weave a set of music together that hits hard and then drop in The Spice Girls without causing bedlam.
The future for Atlas B. looks bright as word gets out and his music gains momentum. No future dates announced yet, but certainly keep an eye on Troy’s NoFun and Empire Live in Albany as he tends to pup up there.
Is it possible to win 20 Grammys and even more “Best Jazz Guitarist” polls, to be an inductee into a variety of Halls of Fame including those of Downbeat Magazine and your home state and still be underrated? The answer is a yes if you are the ceaselessly creative and melodic Pat Metheny.
Michael Torres, Photographer
Instagram @michaelatorresphotography
Pat’s latest venture is “The Dream Box Tour,” a solo concert extravaganza unlike any before it in the world of guitaring. Pat’s nearly two and a half hour performance on April 13 at The Bardavon was not just a showcase of his massive skills as an instrumentalist, composer and interpreter of classic songs. It was a revelatory journey through new technology being brought to the fore through Pat’s perpetual experimentation and innovation of the guitar in partnership with his longtime luthier, Linda Manzer.
Throughout his career, Metheny’s signature has been his lyricism – his unchallenged capacity to weave a world of gorgeous melody and lush harmony in his original compositions and interpretation of jazz standards like “I Fall in Love Too Easily” and pop tunes like the Beatles’ “And I Love Her.” Not as resonant with fans have been his periodic excursions to jazz’s freer edges and even noise rock. These include his collaborations with Ornette Coleman on the album Song X and The Sign of Four with avant-garde guitar pioneer, Derek Bailey.
To me, Pat is a bit like Marilyn Monroe, the talented actress who doesn’t quite get the full credit she deserves because you are blinded by her simple beauty. In Pat’s case, it’s the relentless pretty he pulls out of his guitar.
At this concert, Metheny performed on at least ten different axes by my count, the majority modified in intriguing ways via their amplification, number of strings and their gauges (to enable deep bass accompaniment), his alternative tunings and electronics. The showstoppers were his 42-string guitar named Pikasso and his truly ingenious Orchestrion. The latter is a Rube Goldberg-like device through which his guitar triggers an ensemble of other acoustic and electric instruments, from various oddball percussion to a duo of xylophone-like devices and much more.
Pat began his performance with a 15-minute suite on a traditionally-tuned nylon stringed guitar. Here he interweaved bits of songs like his popular “Phase Dance” and “This Is Not America.” This was a followed with a set pulled from his duo album with bassist Charlie Haden, Beyond Missouri Sky. This medley included “Waltz for Ruth,” “Two for the Road” and his take on Ennio Morricone’s theme from the Italian cinema classic, “Cinema Paradiso (Love Theme).”
Metheny provided some shock-and-awe when he moved to one his modified 8-steel string acoustics for a super-percolated version of the strum-fest “Over on 4th Street” from his album One for the Boys. Next he unleashed his inner Derek Bailey/Eugene Chadborne when conjured a cacophony by string-bashing and pick scraping – a bit of noise rock, all done on an acoustic.
Pat also brought out his 42-string Pikasso for a long improvisation. This instrument’s sympathetic strings enable Metheny to do harp-like glissandos and pluck melodies and anchor it all with very deep bass notes courtesy of Pikasso’s 90+ gauge strings.
He then moved to his uniquely strung baritone guitar for a medley of serene covers included on popular albums like 2011’s “What’s It All About.” This guitar combines two uber-low bass strings with higher range and doubled third and fourth strings and mid-ranges on the traditionally higher tuned first and second strings. Pat says he approaches playing and composing on this guitar as if he was a one-man string quartet. This and most of Pat’s acoustic guitars are outfitted with microphones within the body to provide extra resonance and depth. During this chapter of his master class on guitar, Metheny performed gorgeous versions of “Alfie,” “Rainy Days & Mondays,” Carly Simon’s “That’s The Way I Always Heard It Should Be” and the Bossa Nova staple, “The Girl From Ipanema.”
Metheny then went to another modified guitar, a hollow body electric, for extended versions of several tunes including “Morning of the Carnival.” He first laid down deep bass and chordal loops for accompaniment before ripping into more bebop-inspired improvisations.
Pat’s hard-working guitar tech, Andre Cholmondeley, then ran about the stage to unveil the many parts of The Orchestrion, which Metheny used for a dazzling improvisational display. He would then go to his vintage 1984 synth guitar to solo over the well-tempered musical maelstrom he triggered with The Orchestrion. He would end this outstanding showcase of virtuosity with luminous versions of “Seuno con Mexico” and the Jimmy Webb/Glen Campbell classic, “Wichita Lineman.”
The Motet and opening act The Sideways got Buffalo boogieing down at Buffalo Ironworks on April 16. They all brought contagious energy.
The Sideways, a popular band in Rochester, started the night off. The band is a fusion of pop, soul and R&B. They played songs from their recently released debut album, Fair Weather. Their sweet sound got the audience’s dancing feet ready for The Motet.
The Motet, a Denver-based band with a blend of funk, soul, and jazz music, had people jamming and dancing. With the addition of vocalist Sarah Clark only this past fall, it felt like sheâd always been part of the band. The way that she interacted with the crowd and carried this contagious energy of fun. Whether she was trying on an audience member’s sunglasses or leading the crowd in song, she kept up the energy all night long
Both The Sideways and The Motet left the Buffalo audience with their contagious energy and good vibes. I can honestly say that everyone left in such a great mood. Iâd be surprised if someone didnât.
The Motet will be back in New York on April 27 at Brooklyn Bowl.
Legendary blues guitarist Buddy Guy graced the stage of Westbury Music Fair on April 14, as part of his highly anticipated “Damn Right Farewell Tour.” The evening was a celebration of a storied career that has spanned decades, marked by electrifying performances and soulful melodies that have captivated audiences around the world.
Buddy Guy and Bobby Rush
The tour, which kicked off in February 2023, encountered a brief hiatus in September of the same year due to what was described as a “standard medical issue.” However, Guy returned stronger than ever, picking up the tour in April 2024 to the delight of fans eagerly awaiting his return.
Opening the evening was the incomparable Bobby Rush, whose set warmed up the crowd and set the stage for an unforgettable night. Rush’s performance featured an array of blues classics, including “Let Me In Your House,” “Chicken Heads,” “Garbage Man,” and “Got Me Accused,” showcasing his remarkable talent and stage presence.
Bobby Rush
As excitement mounted, Buddy Guy stepped onto the stage, met with a resounding wave of applause and cheers from the audience. Despite the specter of retirement on the horizon, Guy’s fervor and dedication to the blues remain unwavering as he delved into a setlist brimming with cherished hits and enduring classics.
From the heartfelt melody of “Damn Right I Got the Blues” to the famous guitar riff of “Hoochie Coochie Man,” Buddy Guy’s performance showcased his exceptional skill in blues guitar. Every note he played seemed to carry the same intense emotion and depth that has characterized his remarkable career.
Buddy Guy
Buddy’s band rocked the stage with skill and unity. Drummer Tom Hambridge set the beat, while guitarist Ric Hall added soulful solos. Keyboardist Dan Souvigny added depth, and bassist Orlando Wright kept the groove steady. Together, they made Buddy Guy’s performance shine, showing how well they worked together.
During the encore, the stage was graced by the presence of both Bobby Rush and Buddy Guy’s son, Greg Guy. Together, they delivered a powerful rendition of Willie Dixon’s “The Same Thing,” creating a moment that resonated with the audience and highlighted the familial bond shared between Buddy Guy and his son. The addition of Bobby Rush added an extra layer of excitement and camaraderie to the performance.
Buddy Guy and Bobby Rush
Following this captivating collaboration, the night reached its climax with Bobby Rush and Buddy Guy teaming up on stage for a soulful rendition of “Got My Mojo Working.” Their chemistry was electric as they traded licks and shared the spotlight, leaving the audience energized and wanting more.
At Westbury Music Fair, Buddy Guy showed why he’s seen as one of the best guitarists ever. Every chord and lyric reminded everyone why he’s a legend, leaving a lasting impression on everyone who saw him play.
Setlist: Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues, Hoochie Coochie Man/She’s Nineteen Years Old, I Just Want to Make Love to You, Rock Me Baby, Fever, Five Long Years, Love Her With a Feeling, Feels Like Rain, Sunshine of Your Love, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Boom Boom, Down the Road, How Blue Can You Get, The Same Thing, Got My Mo-Jo Working, Outro Jam
Infinity Song filled the Blue Note Jazz Club with joyous soft rock on Monday, April 15, to open their four-day residency. John Boyd, the father of Abraham, Angel, Momo, and Israel Boyd, the four siblings who make up Infinity Song, gave a speech to commemorate the occasion.
The show was the culmination of 27 years of raising children for the Boyd parents, who are both lifelong musicians themselves, going from busking in Central Park to making music under the Roc Nation banner and seeing mainstream success in the city where they grew up. He ended the speech playing on a classic proverb, saying, “It takes ten villages to raise an artist.â
The night was a joyous celebration of music, of family, of history. The band immediately set a mood and established their distinct personalities onstage. The eldest brother, Abraham, spent the first three songs belting while striking poses and running in place on the stage, pumping his arms like he was competing in a marathon to cheers from the audience.
His younger brother and the band’s electric guitarist, Israel, reacted to the cheers by jokingly scolding Abraham for misleading the audience into thinking he was the dancer of the family. This banter culminated in the only way a sibling rivalry can, a dance-off. Each of the four siblings took turns improvising their own dance to on-the-fly beats from the supporting band. For those with siblings, it’s not hard to imagine some similar antics arising if given a stage together.
Coming out of the dance battle, they went into a revolutionary cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Dreams,” which can be found on their newest album, Metamorphosis. No other artist has done the song so much justice. Being raised by musicians and being interdisciplinary themselves, you would be hard-pressed to find four people with that much raw talent on any stage besides the Blue Note last night.
“Slow Burn” and “Haterâs Anthem” were their two most popular songs of the night. “Slow Burn” is a personal favorite that makes use of the sisters’ differing vocal textures to great effect. “Haterâs Anthem” harkens back to the 90s with upbeat choral vocals from the whole group and an underlying message about the pitfalls of being a hater while convincing yourself that you are inherently better than others who are putting in the work towards their goals.
Not only did Infinity Song pack Blue Note on a Monday, but they got the audience dancing, too, as the small club rose from their dinner tables to dance out the end of the show with the band. You can experience Infinity Song in residency at the Blue Note through Thursday, April 18, with shows at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. This was an otherworldly experience: bring your friends, bring your family, because Infinity Song is up next.
Mississippi phenomenon that is TVBOO had a special show at Buffalo’s Town Ballroom on April 13. His unique bass lines are what make every dubstep lover go crazy, but it’s his comedic flair that takes his performance up several notches.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
Local support RainMan made his Town Ballroom debut that night. He was joined by the intrepid duo sfam. Their performance was followed by AHEE who is known for his high-energy dubstep and mesmerizing sonic exploration.
AHEE, Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
TVBOO then took over the stage with his knee high socks and iconic mullet. This man is a performer through and through knowing exactly when to add his comedic tidbits for laughter and sound bites.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
This producer’s infamous voice samples and funky beats make his songs so memorable whether or not you have heard of TVBOO. He played countless tunes off of his hit 2022 album Blue Collar Bass including his collaboration with GRiZ, “Bass Music.”
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
The Meme Master
TVBOO’s funky beats are what everyone loves to groove to but his visuals are some of which people can’t stop talking about. They’ll either leave you confused on what is going on or dying from laughter. He makes memes of himself that are stuck in everyone’s head by the end of the night. Some of which include him riding on a bald eagle or licking his eyebrows to name a few.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
TVBOO mixes into his sets both new and old tunes. He throws it back with his single, “Skrawberries” where he dedicates it to a girl that came into his life that tasted like strawberries. The artist even replays this song over so the crowd can match the energy needed for a tune that goes this hard. He also played his latest single, “Cha Cha Step” which fans got to hear for the first time live.
Photo Credit: Maddie McCafferty
This was a memorable night for both TVBOO and his fans. It ended with the artist announcing he will be back for a stop on his fall 2024 tour. So if you missed TVBOO this time around make sure not to miss him for his return.
If you’re looking for more EDM events in Western NY then you’re in luck! Liquid Stranger performs on April 19 and The Glitch Mob will be playing a 360 show on April 26. Get your tickets here.
Sir Chloe played a sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Saturday, April 13. Opening for Sir Chloe was New York based band Daffo playing a collection of songs from their discography, including their newly released single, “Over Again,” released March 8.
Sir Chloe- Photo by Gabrielle White
The band got their start in Vermont in 2018, before re-locating to Brooklyn where they now call home. Sir Chloe is comprised of Dana Foote on lead vocals and guitar, Emma Welch on bass, Austin Holmes on synth, Palmer Foote on drums, and Teddy O’Mara on guitar. For the past year they have been touring across North America, the UK, and Europe. They’ve played headlining shows and opened for Beck and Phoenix during their Odyssey tour last year.
As the crowd sang along throughout the night, a disco ball spun around Music Hall of Williamsburg’s ceiling, filling the packed room with pockets of light. Even playing a sold-out venue, Sir Chloe kept a familiarity and closeness with the audience. There didn’t feel to be a disconnect as the crowd continued to dance and sing throughout the set and the encore.
This was night one of a two night Brooklyn stop for Sir Chloe. They’ll be playing next in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 17 at The Sinclair. The band will be making various stops throughout the US and UK through August.
1971 was an incredibly busy touring year for the Grateful Dead and on this day in April they found themselves in Cortland, NY for the first and only time. The band toured the East Coast extensively all throughout this month, playing a slew of auditoriums, music halls and college campuses as they continued to build their brand.
With plenty of gigs scheduled in New York City, this show at SUNY-Cortland’s Lusk Field House would be their only one in Central New York and the entire region was clearly on board. Tickets could be purchased in Ithaca, Binghamton and even the Syracuse University bookstore. Those that went were treated to a good one as the Dead would continue to hone their new originals, play an extremely rare cover song and take another one around the block and back.
The Dead jump off the starting block with a guitar-driven and passionate “Cold Rain and Snow.” The triumvirate of Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh are turned up high in the mix and don’t disappoint. After “Snow” comes to end with a flurry of heavy vamping from all involved, and a quick PSA from Garcia harkening someone to come up to the side of the stage, “Me and My Uncle” starts up and gets played in pristine fashion with Weir leading the charge on vocals. The “Bertha” that follows gets the same treatment and shows the band clearly getting nice and familiar with this newer song that only debuted a few months ago.
Another song fairly new to the live Dead catalog at the time was their cover of “Me and Bobby McGee.” This too gets played with a noticeable comfort and ease with Garcia adding some extra tasteful guitar licks between early verses and Bill Kreutzmann serving as a one-man wrecking crew on drums. A clearly relaxed and engaged Grateful Dead then attempt to honor the Cortland audience’s request to get some spotlights turned off. Lesh comments that this “isn’t the spacecraft assembly building or anything” with Garcia sarcastically intimating that it just might be.
Pigpen then gets his lone spotlight of the first set and leads the band through a no-frills “Next Time You See Me.” At this point, the band reengages their war with the lighting crew who get caught trying to turn some lights back up. Things get so (comically) animated that Pigpen even gets involved! That’s right, rare Pigpen banter. And this one is a gem.
Like nothing ever happened, the Dead then close out the first set in Cortland with their now traditional one-two pairing of “China Cat Sunflower” and “I Know You Rider.” The “Rider” starts off at a slightly slower pace but the crystal clear segue is right there and Garcia delivers a hellacious guitar solo before the set ends with a fairly standard run through of “Casey Jones.”
The second set begins with some heavy wah-wah effects on guitar as “Sugar Magnolia” begins with Weir leading the way on vocals. The psychedelic guitar interplay makes for a brief rousing jam before Weir reels it back in. The next selection is a true Grateful Dead rarity with Garcia taking over on vocals for a cover of Smokey Robinson’s “I Second That Emotion.” It was played by the Dead only seven times ever, with all of them in April of 1971. Although it would later reappear on Jerry Garcia Band setlists in the future. His stirring guitar solo on this one adds just the right amount of soul and shows why.
The Dead then delve back into their song book of originals and roll through “Truckin’” with the “Up to Buffalo” lyric getting a noticeable hand from the Cortland crowd. This sets the table for the true exploratory jam of the night with a short but joyous romp that features some cohesive interplay between Garcia and Lesh on bass serving as the musical engine.
The second one comes with the “Hard to Handle” that follows, with Pigpen once again on the mic, delivering one of his signature cover songs. He flies through the verses with ease and typical swagger and then immediately launches into a semi-coherent, bluesy scat-rap hybrid over a bed of steady groove supplied by the band. It’s essentially the Dead backing up Pigpen as he improvises before he exits stage right and the band takes their turn with a veritable funk jam that slowly gets more and more aggressive before coming to a peak.
The Dead then continue to trot out more of their newer originals that debuted earlier this year at Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. “Loser” features a pair of Garcia guitar solos rich in emotion with the second one played in a perfect tone. “Playing In The Band” follows and while it’s clear the band has the compositional part of this song down pat by now, there’s yet to be any sort of supplemental jam added to it.
One of the final musical statements from the Dead on this night in Cortland is a massive cover of The Rascals” “Good Lovin’” with Pigpen once again belting out the vocals. Once the lyrics come to an end, almost immediately a one-man “Drums” section begins with Kreutzmann using every inch of the drum kit for several minutes. Instead of moving on to something else, the band jumps right back into the “Good Lovin’” jam and Pigpen reemerges for another stream of conscious-like, bluesy rap with this one exploring various employment opportunities and the “nookie business.” This eventually fades out and the band takes over once more with a brief jam before reshaping it back into the conclusion of the song, serving as one of the true highlights of the show.
A tame, in comparison, “Uncle John’s Band” then closes out the one and only Grateful Dead show in Cortland, NY. The band would get a few days off after this show and then continue their assault on the Northeast with shows in Providence, RI and Bangor, ME scheduled after that before a legendary run of shows at New York City’s Fillmore East the following week.
Vist archive.org for a track by track listing of the show.
View this and more Grateful Dead shows from across the years in New York State with our interactive map below
Grateful Dead – Lusk Field House, Cortland, NY – April 18, 1971
Set 1: Cold Rain and Snow, Me and My Uncle, Bertha, Me and Bobby McGee, Next Time You See Me, China Ca Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Casey Jones
Set 2: Sugar Magnolia, I Second That Emotion, Truckin’, Hard to Handle, Loser, Playing In The Band, Around and Around, Good Lovin’, Uncle John’s Band
