On Friday, May 18, Marco Benevento headlined the 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with opening support from Seacoast soul powerhouse Gretchen and the Pickpockets. Marco Benevento and his band, which features Karina Rykman on bass and Andy Borger on drums, opened the show by playing the entire side B of Marco’s latest album, The Story of Fred Short. At the end of “Stay in Line”, they did an extended tease of Led Zeppelin‘s “Living Loving Maid”. After The Story of Fred Short segment, Marco spoke about his history and love for the city of Portsmouth and why he plays there so often. He went on to give shout-outs to his longtime friend Tristan from 3S Artspace and his favorite restaurant Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Cafe, which is mentioned in his song At the Show. When the band started back up, they played crowd favorites like “Dropkick”, “Limbs of a Pine”, “At The Show”, Harry Nilsson‘s “Jump Into The Fire”, and the Butthole Surfers‘ “Pepper”, as sung by bassist Karina Rykman. At one point, Benevento talked about the piano he tours with that’s an old ’64 key upright that he paid $100 for on Craigslist. He named it “Gibbs” and went on to play an amazing solo on it.

Marco Benevento and his band put on an especially energetic performance, with each member shining on their respective instrument throughout the show. Karina made several leaps across the stage, and Marco climbed up and jumped off instruments, even joining the crowd for a dance toward the end.

If you haven’t seen Marco Benevento’s live show yet, we recommend you do so immediately. For now, you can download this free set from New Orleans during Jazz Fest from a couple of weeks ago here.

Check out the full gallery below, courtesy of Vic Brazen.