The New Mastersounds – From Leeds To Louisville (VIDEO)

If you’re not aware, The New Mastersounds are a hard working, non-stop touring, (mostly) instrumental funk machine from Leeds, England. On May 31, 2011, their tour swung through the Bluegrass State. Attendance was somewhat sparce due to the My Morning Jacket album release show occurring at the Louisville Palace the same night (a show that featured Erykah Badu as a special guest and was webcasted live to youtube by VEVO & American Express).

Nonetheless, The New Mastersounds gave all of their energy, playing over 2 hours without a set break. They even went off the written setlist for an impromptu cover of James Brown’s Get On The Good Foot. It was clear that they were having a great time, even if it was a Tuesday night and the crowd contained barely 100 people.

I shot about 30 minutes of stage-side video, which has been upgraded with my friend’s on-stage audio recording. This video contains 5 songs: Run the Gauntlet, You Got It All > Mark’s Red Guitar, Six Underground & Get On The Good Foot (James Brown cover):

If you’re in the Bluegrass State, The New Mastersounds will be back this Wednesday, September 7th, at Cosmic Charlies in Lexington, Kentucky.

VIDEOS: Dumpstaphunk Jazz Fest 2011 Tour de NOLA

“Sleep is NOT overrated!” I once heard Ivan Neville exclaim between songs at a late night Maple Leaf gig. He should know, as one of the hardest working musicians in New Orleans during Jazz Fest week. (It’s usually a competition between him, George Porter Jr. & Stanton Moore as to who does the most gigs in that 10 day period.) For Jazz Fest 2011, Ivan did at least 9 gigs (if not more) during the second weekend, 3 of which were with Dumpstaphunk.

Gasman Chronicles > Do Ya > Deeper:

On Thursday, May 5th, Dumpstaphunk opened for Soulive & Lettuce at the Royal Family Ball at the Contemporary Arts Center. My pal Theo showed up and set up his audio recording equipment dead center, about 20 feet from the front rail (much closer than FOB). I clamped my video camera to the side of his mic stand, zoomed it in tight and just let it roll for the entire set. Here, I present 45 minutes of highlights from their 70 minute set. Note the rare cover of The Isley Brothers’ “Fight The Power” as the set closer.

Lt. Dan, Put It In The Dumpsta, Everybody Want Sum, Fight The Power:

The day before, on Wednesday, May 4th, Dumpstaphunk played an afternoon in-store performance at the Louisiana Music Factory record store on Decatur Street. This is an interesting set because Ivan is playing Joe Krown’s organ and without clavinet. Here is the full 35 minute set:

01. Everybody Want Sum – Do Ya:

02. Oughta Know Better:

03. Gasman Chronicles – Deeper (part 1/2):

04. Deeper (part 2/2):

On Sunday, May 9th, Dumpstaphunk closed down the week’s festivities late night at Tipitina’s for the 5th year in a row. The highlight for me was the unexpected James Brown cover, The Payback, sung by Nick Daniels. I didn’t shoot this video (I was too enthralled in the front row), but I sure am glad that my friend Chris Rogers was holding up his flash video recorder. Now I can relive one of my favorite moments from Jazz Fest 2011, as drummer Raymond Weber gives us those “hits” we so desperately need.

The Payback (James Brown cover):

BTW, this was a crosspost with Live Music Blog: NOLA. Definitely check them out to keep up to date with the New Orleans music scene!

The Funky Meters – 4th of July in Louisville, Kentucky (VIDEO)

The Funky Meters were the featured performers at Louisville’s free annual Waterfront Independence Festival. Although they started over an hour late due to “technical difficulties,” it gave them the chance to play right through the fireworks display. It was quite an experience to see the fireworks display over the Ohio river while The Funky Meters ripped through Jimi Hendrix’s version of the Star Spangled Banner!

This featured video is a 26 minute edit of the set’s highlights, including the opening Cissy Strut, Chug-A-Lug, Africa, Doodle Oop (one of my favorite Meter’s tunes), The Star Spangled Banner, Fire On The Bayou, Just Kissed My Baby, and a blistering impromptu version of Jim Hendrix’s Purple Haze! Oh, and there are some fireworks on the video too…

I have to thank CMescia for sharing his audio recording (made with neumann mics) for this project. And i’d like to assure everyone that I will eventually get the full show posted as a DVD at thetradersden.org. For now, the full audio is available to download here: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=546918.

Finally, a shout-out to Rex-A-Vision who couldn’t make it out this night. I guess he just had too much fun at the Electric Forest festival the day before…

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