BLUE METHOD
(with the DISCIPLES OF GROOVE)
At World Cafe Live - Philly (6/23/07)
Funky guitarist/vocalist, Dan Jost!!
At
8:00pm, Vineland (New Jersey)'s own Disciples of Groove started their
performance with a heavily funky dose of a new song called "Had
Enough"...these guys were JAMMIN' on this tune, especially the
"bragg-a-dociously" tight drumming of Mr. David Gardner (I learned
that word from BOOTSY, y'all!)! The only bad part was that the lead guitar
wasn't really turned up...for the solo. "Like The Day" was
another funky song, followed by the pop flavor of "Silver Screen".
"Aeroplane" was a return of the D.O.G.-style funk, followed by the
lighter "Syllabus" and "Chemistry". What followed was a
seriously funky scratch-rhythm guitar solo by Dan Jost! "The Simpsons
Theme" was okay (spotlight-ing the sounds of saxman, Matt Totora)....like
I said once before, it's cute the first couple of times that it's played, but
it gets old very quick! After "Hilikus", it was time for Rob
Smith to throw down with the nastiest, thumpin' slap bass riffs ever heard in a
D.O.G. show! The show ended at 9:00pm, after the band performing "Big Disappointment",
"Stranger's Advice", "The James Bond Theme", "So You
Can See" and "40 Winks".
Click here for
pictures of the Disciples of Groove
Brian Williams on trumpet!!
At 9:20am, Blue Method started....THIS WAS THE BEST
PERFORMANCE BY THE BLUE METHOD....EVER!!!!!! They started with new songs from
the newest Blue Method release "Kill The Music: Vol. 2" (THIS WAS
THEIR CD RELEASE PARTY!!!) They started with (I believe) "Get Back Home
(The Bounce)" featuring the soulful vocals of the great Brian Williams
with backing vocals by Topaz Wise and Alesia Dessaus (from the Philly R&B/funk
band NATURAL SELECTION)...this featured some red-hot lead guitar riffing by
Michael Patriarca and standout synthesizing by Luke O'Reilly! "Other
Family" was a lighter R&B song that reminded of Lil Brian & the
Zydeco Traveler's "Summer Girl" (for those who are Lil Brian fans).
Blue Method performed one of the best funk-gospel jams
EVER..."Spinning"....this was some 'Graham Central Station-partying
in the pulpit-Holy Ghost Fever- Stomp all over the devil' party music that
featured some of the baddest slap-technique, rumble-in-the-jungle funk bass
grooving by Mr. Rah M. Sungee and power drumming soloing by Theron Shelton!!
After that mesmerizing spiritual-funk throwdown, the next three songs
("Things I'll Do", "Sad Thing" and "Don't They",
featuring some audience participation for the chorus) just didn't compare.
Soul-clapping (FUNKY people know what that is) was the order of the day for the
intro of James Brown's "There Was a Time".
Tom Long, bad MF on sax!!!
After performing a ballad, Blue Method tackled the Buddy Miles classic
"Them Changes" and THEY RIPPED THE LINING OUT OF THAT MUGG!! Blazing
guitarisms by Michael were the order of the day (along with the odorious bass
lines of Rah)..."Maggot Brain" was a bonus that was thrown into the
set (this Was NOWHERE near a "partial note-for-note" copy of the
original, which is a shame but it still had a lot of intensity). "Machine
Gun" was another Michael power-guitar spotlight...then it was back to
"Them Changes"!! "In the Running" was another rockin'
funk/jazz blast, featuring a jazzy ending where Luke was playing his butt off
on jazz piano! "Something Divine" was a good R&B tune, featuring
a gospel organ solo by Luke in the intro portion....the only bad part was
that I couldn't hear the backing vocalists that well. "Let Me See
You" was TOO FUNKY...a cross between James Brown's "Sex Machine"
and Tower of Power's "Soul With a Capital 'S'", complete with the
horny horns of Tom Long and Brian Williams, and a poppin' bass performance by
Rah...but the best part was the OUTSTANDING SOLO spotlight with just Tom on sax
and Theron on drums!! Even better was the part when the two began to SERIOUSLY
COOK on some HIP-HOP BEATS, with Tom throwing out horn lines from classic
hip-hop stuff like DJ Kool's "Let Me Clear My Throat"....the World
Cafe Live Downstairs was almost PACKED TO THE BRIM with FUNK FANS, and
EVERYBODY WAS JAMMING!!!!!!!!! Blue Method ended their set with some serious JB
groovin'...."Payback" and "Get on the Good Foot"....James
Brown is somewhere in heaven smilin' right now!! It was all over at 11:15pm.
Click here for pictures of
Blue Method
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