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Galactic came to Maine during the nastiest heat wave this summer with record setting temperatures in New England the entire week of their visit. The band looked a little wilted as they took the stage, and seemed played out by the heat like the rest of us.By the one hour mark, they managed to push the pace of the show up to their normal frenzied, unpredictable musical chaos, keeping that pace for another hour or so. I'm here to tell you, and was there to report, Galactic fans, that it is amazing they managed to make to through two hours in such oppressive conditions. Did I mention that the temperature reached 100 degrees fahrenheit in Maine that day? In that heat, even boys from New Orleans can wilt! There were a couple of tunes at the beginning I wasn't sure if I had heard before. 'Pocket Full of Sap' a nice, driving, band number, and 'Ice Cold Daydream' a Houseman tune. Theryl, "the Houseman" de Clouet strutted his R&B soul stuff decked out in a silver lame' zoot suit.
I've seen Houseman in a number of wild color shiny suits, but this one took the cake, completely sparkled and dazzled the small but enthusiastic crowd. Houseman strutted through 'Can't Recall' and 'Thrill' hooking the front rows with his smooooth ways. Sax Man Ben Ellman and keyboardist Rich Vogel led the rest of the band in a nice romp through several instrumentals including the Galactic guitar/bass showdown, 'Bobski/Jeffe 2000', which had bassist Robert Mercurio and guitarist Jeff Raines leading the rondo. The boys followed with the New Orleans classic 'Hook and Sling', and the jazzy 'Snowball'. The playing was nice and the crowd really shook their groove thangs for the authentic New Orleans funky music.
Houseman returned for his second act and the band played second fiddle to the showman. Crooning through 'Something You do To Me', being the prevocateur with 'Action Speaks Louder than Words', and wailing plaintively during 'Little Miss Lover' Houseman spread the love through the Maine audience.
The band treated us to the stellar, 'Quiet Please' from their 1998 'Crazyhorse Mongoose' release for an encore, leaving us melted from the heat but musically fulfilled; ready to challenge another day after a good dose of New Orleans boogiefunksoulstrut music!
Author's notes:
Galactic puts on a great show no matter where they are, however, I wish to applaud Ian the lighting man, Aaron the tour manager, and the entire crew and band for making the night of music happen for those in attendance. The house was less than 1/4 full, the heat was damaging, yet they pulled off the show. Ian produced a spectacular light show with his video effects and bright backlighting.
The sound was pretty good in an uncompromising venue, and the band played really well. I brought a friend from Old Orchard Beach who had never heard of Galactic before. She loved Stanton Moore's perpetual smile. When we left, she wanted to know all about them, where are they from, what are the best Cd's to buy etc. One more fan earned, the old fashioned way, groove down in the boiling heat!
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