On Saturday, March 31, the legendary Warfield Theater in San Francisco held a heavyweight showdown that featured two top-class masters in funk entertainment, the world favorite Galactic from New Orleans, LA and Turkuaz from Brooklyn, NY.

Wrapping up a winter tour that consisted of 30 shows in 34 days with 9,268 miles logged from coast to coast, Galactic is known for touring heavily to start the year. Turkuaz joined the tour for its final leg through California.

Turkuaz is a non-stop touring machine that seems to thrive on crisscrossing the country “Coast to Coast”. A favorite night out for locals whenever they are in the San Francisco Bay Area, Turkuaz routinely hits the Bay at least three times a year either through festival appearances or a slot on tour.

Fans tend to agree, the show is fun. The nine-piece rainbow clad band (more often than not) crams themselves onto stages not typically meant for bands of that size. But to avoid getting lost in the shuffle, each member has their own specific color-coded wardrobe and instrument labeling. Saturday night, the band had plenty of room to stretch their legs.

At the Warfield, the Turkuaz horn section is anchored leftmost (from the audience) by saxophonist Josh Schwartz, clad in purple. It is a high honor to wear purple in a funk band, and Schwartz soars–not just with his baritone sax, but also with a rich baritone singing voice as demonstrated on a cover of The Bar-Kays’ “Holy Ghost”, an appropriate day-before-Easter pick. Next to Schwartz, in red, is tenor saxophonist Greg Sanderson belting fast-paced melodies and intricate flourishes. Chris Brouwers, in black, pulls double duty, often simultaneously playing the trumpet and a keyboard.

In the center of the stage, lead vocalist and guitarist in blue Dave Brandwein is flanked on his right (audience left) by Shira Elias’ bright yellow ray of sunshine and on the left (audience right) by the equally stunning bubblegum pink aura of Sammi Garett. Behind them in a field of green sits drummer Michelangelo Carubba. At one point late in Turkuaz’ hour-long set, the band turned to Carubba for a drum solo which he began with only one arm, outperforming several drummers at their peak with two.

Holding down the right side of it all are bassist Taylor Shell and dual instrumentalist Craig Brodhead on keyboards and guitar. Shell, decked in orange, is the most mobile member of the band, only attached to his bass guitar and no microphone. While Brodhead anchors the edge of the Warfield stage in white, Shell can be seen strutting from Garett to Carubba to Brodhead and back without missing a note.

While the other band members rarely leave their zones, they keep the audience visually engaged with synchronized dance moves–head nods, knee bends, twists and kicks being some of the most common. Elias and Garett can be found running in place or executing more complex synchronizations, even with percussion instruments in hand. As evidenced in their final song of the set, “Everyone’s A Winner” when Turkuaz plays.

By the time Galactic took the stage, the audience was hot-stepping like the floor was lava. The world-renowned funk band filtered out onstage, calm, cool and collected. From right to left, the band featured the stoic and statuesque Jeff Raines on guitar balanced by the slightly more animated Robert Mercurio on bass. Stanton Moore kept the fills moving forward and the tempo tight on drums (featuring not one but two different kick drums), while keyboardist Richard Vogel layered heavy blankets of organ over and underneath the sound of the band, taking flight in the transitions.

Anchoring the left side of the stage again was the horn section. A two-tandem team between longtime saxophonist and blues-harpist Ben Ellman and newcomer Shamarr Allen on what appeared to be a compact, pocket-sized trumpet. The pair of blowers would trade licks over the rest of the group. Taking their time going on long runs of notes or holding one note for over a full 50 seconds, the band gave them plenty of room.

Leading the band on vocals was neo R&B soul singer Erica Falls. Falls was dynamite on every bar. Coupled with a commanding stage presence, Falls took lead vocals on the classic “You Don’t Know” from Galactic’s 2010 NOLA funk masterpiece Ya-Ka-May. The crowd instantly fell in love with Falls, especially after she began conducting the audience.

As true to Galactic’s widespread, “jam with everybody we can” mentality found on their records, they welcomed Bay Area rapper and producer Lyrics Born to the stage. They performed “Rock-Rock-Away”, a single from Lyrics Born’s 2015 album Real People and featuring Galactic. Later, they brought the Turkuaz horns onstage as well.

Overall, the show Saturday night at the Warfield was one of the funkiest nights San Francisco has seen in weeks, as delivered in a way only Galactic, supported by Turkuaz could be delivered.

Thanks the author, Joshua Huver of Must Have Media, for the videos of the performance as well as the photo gallery below.