It must have been Tuesday, because Karina Rykman had Asheville twisted again.
The perpetually upbeat Marco Benevento bassist traveled to the North Carolina music hub on Tuesday to perform a sold-out show at The Grey Eagle. In light of Governor Roy Cooper‘s lifting of mask mandates and capacity limits the previous week, Rykman’s concert at the River Arts District venue was moved inside, one of the first indoor shows for the music hall since the pandemic.
Though attendees were still required to remain in the vicinity of their tables and don masks when up and about, a welcome feeling of normalcy still permeated the room, from the audience up to the stage.
Opening with the ambient soundscapes of “Lagos”, Rykman, guitarist Adam November, and drummer Chris Corsico immediately displayed the experimental prowess the band honed spending its initial years as an all-improv outfit. Soon enough, however, the jam rolled straight into the hard-hitting original “Dirty South”, which fired off as the true starting gun of the concert.
The energy kept rolling with another one of Rykman’s five published singles, “City Kids“. Though the song applies to more urban environments, the many Asheville transplants still resonated with the song’s joyously cynical tone before the band took a hard left turn into “Hella Good” by No Doubt. With November’s disco guitar and Rykman’s resonating bass licks, the rustic Grey Eagle quickly developed into a 2000’s dance club.
Back to original territory, November lead the band through the earworm riff of “Plants” before the musical transportations continued with “Goji Island”. The bouncy reggae beat offered a brief respite from the inferno of a dance party the evening was shaping up to be. The island rhythms rolled smoothly into the gentle funk of “Arbitrary” before some impromptu crowd banter about Tecate beer resulted in a truly surprising take on T-Pain‘s “Buy U A Drank”, further bolstering the 2000’s club vibe.
After a run through “Skylark”, Rykman took the opportunity to dish out her latest single, “No Occasion“. Besides being a weeks-old single to promote, the song was already chronologically relevant due to the line, “It must be Tuesday/you’ve got me twisted again.” The bassist pointed out that this was the first time on her spring 2021 tour that she was actually able to play “No Occasion” on a Tuesday, a lucky coincidence which was met with jovial enthusiasm from the crowd.
With four out of her five published singles in the bag, “No Occasion” took a healthy detour through cover country with takes on “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads, “Daft Punk Is Playing At My House” by LCD Soundsystem, and even “Le Freak” by Chic, all without breaking a stride and managing to keep the segues rolling.
Finally, Rykman and company fired the last single from the chamber with “Elevator” to close the set. The sold-out crowd didn’t even allow the band to leave the stage for an encore break, as a wave of thunderous applause brought forth a rendition of the recently-debuted “Atom Dance” (not to be confused with the Björk song) to close the show.
Scroll down to check out some videos from Karina Rykman at The Grey Eagle in Asheville on 5/18/21, or as the bassist referred to it, the “best night ever.” Rykman will appear with supporting act AFTM tonight, May 19th, at Blind Tiger in Greensboro, NC as her spring tour continues through the south.
Karina Rykman – “Hella Good” (No Doubt) – Asheville, NC – 5/18/21
[Video: Michael Broerman]
Karina Rykman – “Buy U A Drank” (T-Pain) – Asheville, NC – 5/18/21
[Video: Michael Broerman]
Karina Rykman – “No Occasion” – Asheville, NC – 5/18/21
[Video: Michael Broerman]
Setlist: Karina Rykman | The Grey Eagle | Asheville, NC | 5/18/21
Set: Lagos > Dirty South, City Kids, Hella Good (No Doubt), Plants, Goji Island, Arbitrary, Buy U A Drank (T-Pain), Skylark > Slo, No Occasion > Psycho Killer (Talking Heads) > Daft Punk Is Playing At My House (LCD Soundsystem) > Le Freak (Chic), Elevator
Encore: Atom Dance