Soulive In Your Hedgerow: Bowlive III – Night Five – Jennifer Hartswick and Marco Benevento

Soulive w/ Nigel Hall Band, Marco Benevento & Jennifer Hartswick @ Brooklyn Bowl, March 3

Words: Scott Bernstein
Images: Kevin Fuller

It’s hard to believe it’s been 13 years since Neal and Alan Evans invited Eric Krasno to their Woodstock studio for a session that would essentially give birth to a band called Soulive and yield the band’s seminal debut album Get Down! For many live music fans in New York City who are more prone to get their music news from JamBase, Relix or Hidden Track than Rolling Stone or Pitchfork, our history with the trio goes back towards those early days when Soulive was blowing minds at small clubs such as Baby Jupiter or the Wetlands Preserve.  Thirteen years later the group continues to impress as they’ve been putting their chameleon-like tendency to change their sound from song to song and guest to guest on display at Brooklyn Bowl for a ten-night residency dubbed Bowlive III.

[All Photos by Kevin Fuller]

Saturday night’s show marked the halfway point for the run and was arguably the best night yet. Following an afternoon Kidsrockersbowl set which featured guest spots from Karl Denson and Nigel Hall as well as a Q&A session, the Bowl was emptied and then packed all over again for an evening filled to the brim with sensational music. Hall’s solo band opened, setting the bar high for the rest of the night.

Nigel was joined by drummer Louis Kato, Krasno on bass, Neal Evans on keys, Adam Smirnoff on guitar and vocalists Alecia Chakour & Mel Flannery for a mesmerizing set that showed off his uncanny knack to bring a modern edge to a sound rooted in late ’70s soul. For a cover of Patrice Rushen’s Hang It Up, a song Hall has made his own, as well as a pair of tunes later in the set, Nigel welcomed the badass horn section of Jennifer Hartswick, James Casey and Matt Owens, who would also augment Soulive’s performance later in the night. Nigel’s a consummate showman who always makes sure the audience is with him at every step. He engaged the crowd throughout and surely won many new fans by the time he left the stage.

Once The Nigel Hall Band’s set was over, the show was turned over to HT contributor Wyllys, who kept the energy up by spinning familiar songs such as an edit of Trey Anastasio’s Burlap Sack and Pumps and Steely Dan’s Showbiz Kids during his between bands and setbreak DJ sessions.

Soulive tends to start each of their guest-heavy Bowlive sets by their lonesomes and Saturday’s show was no exception as the trio kicked off the first of two sets with Outrage and Bubble off 2007’s No Place Like Soul. Over the years Soulive has gone through many phases in which they’ve added members for years at a time and made wholesale changes to their sound, but at the root of it all is Neal, Alan and Eric who have a chemistry most bands would die for. Outrage and Bubble both put this chemistry on full display as the trio tore through each song with an ease and confidence that made those who have been following the band since the start remember why our jaws were on the floor after witnessing Soulive for the first time.

For the groove-funk number Vapor, off 2006’s Break Out, Soulive brought out the Hartswick/Casey/Owens horn section. Krasno’s dirty guitar work was showcased throughout Vapor as the rhythm section of Alan Evans and Neal Evans’ left hand held it down. The horns stayed out and Marco Benevento made his first appearance of the night on Hat Trick off 2009’s Up Here LP. This MMW-esque groove was the perfect intro for Marco and featured a sizzling sax solo by James Casey, an unsung hero of the run thus far. Next, Hartswick took the mic for a beautiful rendition of Henry Glover’s Drown In My Own Tears which offered the audience a chance to catch its collective breath before more raging broke out in the form of the Soulive version of Revolution by The Beatles, which closed the opening stanza.

Once again, the trio took the stage alone to start the second set and treated the crowd to early classics in the form of So Live! and Turn It Out from their debut album. Fitting choices considering the number of audience members who first saw Soulive in 1999 or 2000. Kraz and the Evans Brothers may not be as young as they used to be, but they still bring the same raw power to these instrumentals that they did when they started. Benevento came back out, Louis Cato took a seat behind the kit and Alan Evans picked up a guitar next for perhaps the most impressive number of the night – an insanely potent cover of Manic Depression that raged for nearly 10 minutes. Cato showed why he is one of the more underrated musicians out there as he propelled his stage mates towards one massive peak after another.

Soulive w/ Louis Cato & Marco Benevento – Manic Depression

The horns returned for another pair of tunes before the evening concluded with two outrageous Led Zeppelin covers. Soulive ended the second set with a ferocious take on Dazed and Confused sung with aplomb by Hartswick and augmented with crazy tones from Benevento. Jennifer brought the house down on the tune which she performed with the Trey Anastasio Band four times during the group’s 2003 Spring Tour. When Soulive returned after the encore break, they brought Benevento with them for The Ocean. Just as he does in Bustle In Your Hedgerow, Marco simulated the lyrics on the keys making for a cool effect. This bombastic cover gave the crowd one last chance to get their yayas out.

By the time the night was over, following more turntable action from Wyllys, attendees had been treated to three acts, three sets and three DJ spin sessions all for the incredibly generous price of $15. Combine all that fantastic music with the best venue in the city, Brooklyn Bowl, and you have a night that will be hard to forget for those who made it out. How will Soulive top themselves during the second half of the run? Considering each night seems to have topped the previous night, the trio has left no doubt they’ll find a way.

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