LIL' BRIAN & THE ZYDECO TRAVELERS
At Warmdaddy's - Philly (2/10/07)
Lil' Brian, Master of Z-Funk!
I
walked in late for the Lil' Brian & the Zydeco Travelers show (around
8:30pm) while the band was performing a lively zydeco song that sounded similar
to "Ma' Tit Fille", featuring J-Mo on some serious thumpasorus
bassics!!! After that funky workout, it was to something a little sweeter,
"Summer Girl". "Rock Me Baby" was a great performance,
thanks to the funky wah-wah guitaring of Lee Lee! "Uncle Cliff" was a
very fast, rockin' zydeco song that should have gotten more people on their
feet dancing, but then again, this was a restaurant so... "Black
Butterfly" was followed by "Thigh Drivin'", another zydeco
workout for accordion king Lil Brian, washboard musician Jimmy and power
drummer Gregory! "Backstabbers" was very good, especially the way the
band stopped for 10 seconds and then went back into the song. The first set was
over at 9:30pm.
J-Mo on the bass!
The
second set started at 10:00pm...the band performed more of the funky zydeco
stuff, including one song that featured some great rock guitaring (I'm sorry
that I don't have a complete set list for this set). The guys performed
something that included a little bit of Parliament's "Up For the Down
Stroke" and some James Brown-style rhythm guitaring (a la "Sex
Machine"). "Get Up On That Zydeco" was followed by "Ma Tit
Fille" and "Ya Ya", both great songs made famous by Buckwheat
Zydeco. The second set was over at 11:00pm.
Gregory on the skins!
At
11:30pm, the final set started with the festive, uptempo zydeco monster,
"Jackin' This Song" where Lil Brian substituted the last line of the
chorus with "But life goes on". The tempo slowed down a little for
the next song, "Makin' Green". After that, it was on to some
booty-shakin', hip-quakin', quick-paced zydeco funk that finally got some of
the fans shakin' their butts! Just when it was over, the band hit the fans with
"807 Magnolia", another booty-shaker...although not as intense. They
performed "Summer Girl" for the second time, followed by the Rolling
Stones "Beast of Burden" which featured some reggae rhythms (as they
incorporated the Bob Marley tune "No Woman No Cry" into the song)!! "Funky
Nation" was followed by an instrumental jam that incorporated chunks of
Herbie Hancock, Sly Stone ("Thank You Fallettime Be Mice Elf Agin")
and Funkadelic ("Cosmic Slop")...J-Mo was smokin' up Warmdaddy's with
the thick, stanky basslines for "Thank You" and Lee Lee nearly burned
down the joint with the explosive lead guitar blasting on "Cosmic
Slop"...Kidd Funkadelic, are you there??! It was over at 12:30am.
Lil' Brian and friend, John D. Wesley!
Click here for pictures of Lil'
Brian & the Zydeco Travelers
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