Following the news that The B-52s will stage their final tour this year, many artists are paying tribute to the new wave act. One surprising collaboration that has resurfaced comes from the 2008 Jammy Awards when Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of The B-52s joined Particle for a performance of “Love Shack”.
Though the bands may be stylistically disparate, a collaboration between The B-52s and Particle was peak Jammys. The jam-focused award ceremony founded by Pete Shapiro and Relix Editor-In-Chief Dean Budnick not only highlighted the best in improvisational music, but also connected these modern artists with their inspirations across the fields of rock, jazz, country, and even pop. For this performance, Particle showed how The B-52s’ synth-wave influence started a path toward the livetronic genre that the band furthered throughout its 2000s-era heydey.
Taken from the final year of the Jammys (so far), the newly surfaced video was captured on May 7th at Madison Square Garden at what is now known as the Hulu Theater. Hosted by Warren Haynes and Grace Potter, the ceremony featured a number of supergroups including one led by Page McConnell with Roy Haynes, James Carter, Nicholas Payton, and Christian McBride, as well as a Marc Brownstein-led tribute to Phish—who accepted a lifetime achievement award that evening—including Jon “Barber” Gutwillig, Kyle Hollingsworth, Brendan Bayliss, and Joe Russo. All four Phish members attended to accept their award, marking the first time all four members shared the stage since the Coventry festival in 2004. The evening also signaled Trey Anastasio‘s first public appearance since entering drug court in early 2007.
Watch Particle collaborate with Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of The B-52s on “Love Shack” at The Jammys. A pre-sale for tickets to The B-52s’ final tour begins today, April 27th, at 10 a.m. ET. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday. See below for a full list of dates.
Particle, Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson – “Love Shack” (The B-52s) – 5/7/08