Soulive made their long-awaited return to New York City’s Brooklyn Bowl to kickstart the 8th edition of their six show, two-weekend “Bowlive” residency at the Brooklyn concert venue on a rain-soaked Thursday night. For the first of six performances over the next two weeks, the beloved funk trio delivered two energizing sets of music with help from special guests including Dumpstaphunk keyboardist Ivan Neville.
The show opened with the band diving right into “Steppin” and “Big Brother” with all three members delivering a burst of melodic energy right out the gate. The first set continued with instrumental originals in “Uncle Jr.” and “Rudy’s Way” before guitarist Eric Krasno played out the familiar notation of The Beatles‘ “Eleanor Rigby”. The first half continued with saxophonist Jared Sims and trombone player Brian Thomas coming out to play on “PJ’s” and “Up Right” to send the audience into set break with a little extra oomph.
The band returned to the stage to start the second half of the show with the night’s highlight special guest in keyboardist Ivan Neville, whose presence was immediately felt with his energizing vocal contributions on the second set opener covering Sly & The Family Stone‘s “I Cannot Make It”. Soulive, Neville, and the two horn players powered their way through “Got Soul” before Krasno stepped up to the mic to sing lead on a cover of Dr. John‘s “Quitters Never Win”. The group then turned back the clocks to the early 1990s with a powerful cover of Nirvana‘s grunge-era anthem in “Heart-Shaped Box”, followed by “Take It Easy” and a rendition of Stevie Wonder‘s “Jesus Children of America”. The second half of the show came to a thrilling close with the group returning to the Sly Stone catalog for a cover of “If You Want Me To Stay”.
The show’s one-song encore saw the band sending fans home happy with their version of The Neville Brothers‘ “Fiya On The Bayou”
Watch Thursday’s entire two-set performance below.
Soulive with Special Guest Ivan Neville – 7/11/2019
[Video: Relix]
Soulive is back in action on Friday as they return to Brooklyn Bowl for night two of Bowlive VIII featuring special guest Oteil Burbridge. Tickets for the show are still available here.
Setlist: Soulive | Brooklyn Bowl | Brooklyn, NY | 7/11/2019
Set One: Steppin, Big Brother, Uncle Jr., Rudy’s Way, Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles cover), PJ’s*, Up Right*
Set Two (with Ivan Neville + horns): I Cannot Make It (Sly & The Family Stone cover), Got Soul, Quitters Never Win (Dr. John cover), Heart-Shaped Box (Nirvana cover), Take It Easy, Jesus Children of America (Stevie Wonder cover), If You Want Me To Stay (Sly & The Family Stone cover)
Encore: Fiya On The Bayou (The Neville Brothers cover)
Notes:
* featuring Jared Sims and Brian Thomas on horns