Dumpstaphunk and current running partners The Nth Power rolled into Williamsburg on Friday night for a performance at Brooklyn Bowl.
With roses adorning the stage, drummer/vocalist Nikki Glaspie, guitarist/vocalist Nick Cassarino, and bassist Nate Edgar, the hair-raising trio that comprises The Nth Power, got the evening started with a powerful performance drawing heavily from their latest album, Reverence. The 2021 LP featured a number of guests including, quite conveniently, Dumpstaphunk’s Nick Daniels III, who joined the band on vocals for a soulful run through “Spirits”. The set the came to a climax with the The Nth Power’s lasting mission statement, “Only Love”, which the band infused with interludes of Bob Marley‘s “War”/”No More Trouble”.
New Orleans exports Dumpstaphunk stormed the stage next, their seven-piece lineup playing a perfect foil to the stripped-down of the opening set. The show saw Ivan Neville and company mix original tunes with funk and soul staples in their unique, groove-focused style (it’s tough to beat the three-pronged behemoth of a rhythm section that of Nick Daniels III and Tony Hall on bass and Deven Trusclair on drums. Alongside selections from 2021’s Where Do We Go From Here, the band’s first LP in seven years, Dumpstaphunk inserted songs by Parliament, Link Wray, and more, taking care to showcase the band’s immense talent, from Ivan’s prodigious piano-playing to the lively horn section of Alex Wasily (trombone) and John Michael Bradford (trumpet).
On a night full of bright spots, the brightest came when Nikki Glaspie took the stage midway through Dumpstaphunk’s headlining set. Rather than taking her usual seat behind the drums, Nikki made her way to center stage to sing with Hall on “Dancin’ to the Truth”, an old favorite from 2013, when she used to run with the Dumpsta crew full-time.
Nick Cassarino then jumped in for a raucous rendition of “If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up” by the recently departed funk queen, Betty Davis. Glaspie let loose in Davis’s distinctive shoes, nailing her potent vocal of cocktail sweet, sultry, and snarling. She prowled around the stage with the mic stand in her clutches as she sang, egging on searing guitar solos by Cassarino, Hall, and Ivan Neville with a glint of Betty’s rabid mischief in her eyes.
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Dumpstaphunk and The Nth Power will hit the stage together once again on Saturday night at Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia. For a full list of upcoming Dumpstaphunk tour dates, head here. For a full list of The Nth Power tour dates, head here.
Check out a gallery of photos from the Brooklyn show below courtesy of photographer Ken Spielman.
