On Monday night, nine-piece funk powerhouse Turkuaz rang in the new year in Worcester, MA at their annual New Years Celebration, The Ball Drop. Excited fans were treated to two great opening sets from Paris Monster & Too Many Zooz before Turkuaz took the stage at 11:30pm.
Diving straight into material both old and new as time winded down to midnight, the band took a turn to something new in busting out a cover of Oasis‘ “Champagne Supernova”, which took the packed Palladium, champagne glasses in hand, through the final countdown to 2019. Out of a traditional “Auld Lang Syne”, the band entered the new year in high tempo with “If I Ever Fall Asleep” from their 2018 release, Life In The City.
Later on in the set, the horn players for Too Many Zooz jumped up on stage for a few songs before Josh Dion from Paris Monster also joined the fun. At that point, the extended cast, grounded by the foot thumps of both Michelangelo Carubba and Deon, busted out a raucous version of Queen’s “We Will Rock You”. The sing-along continued through the Queen favorites with “We Are the Champions” and “Another One Bites the Dust”.
Photographer Chris Capaci was on hand to capture the magic. You can check out a gallery of his photos from Turkuaz’s New Year’s Eve performance below.
For a full list of Turkuaz’s upcoming tour dates, head to the band’s website.
Setlist: Turkuaz | “The Ball Drop” | The Palladium | Worcester, MA | 12/31/18
Coast to Coast, E.Y.E., Make You Famous, Future 86, Champagne Supernova*, Auld Lang Syne, If I Ever Fall Asleep, Toolbelt, The Question, Percy Thrills the Moondog, Lady Lovely, 20 Dollar Bill, Electric Habitat, On the Run, Life in the City, Queen Medley^~, Monkey Fingers, Ballad of Castor Troy, Back to Normal, Bubba Slide
*Oasis Cover
^We Will Rock You > We Are the Champions > Another One Bites the Dust
~ w/ special guests Too Many Zooz horns & Josh Dion of Paris Monster