I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: December 31, 2019] Garcia Peoples

I saw Garcia Peoples about a year ago when they opened for Heron Oblivion.  I really liked them and knew I’d want to see them again.  The fact that this year they were on a bill with Chris Forsyth, who I also really wanted to see, and it was an after-party show after the final Phish show I’d be seeing of the year made it even more cool.

I was even willing to stay in NYC until 3 AM to see it!

I arrived at Le Poissin Rouge early enough to get a slice of pizza in the Village (yum) and even get a drink at LPR (the bartender assumed my change was a tip, apparently).

I parked myself on the right side of the stage (I usually prefer the left side, but it was a little crowded there).  I wound up being right in front of GP’s guitarist Tom Malach (who looked different since last time he wore a toque the whole night).

The big difference between these shows was that last time Andy Cush was on bass, but this time it was Derek Spaldo, who also sang lead vocals much of the time.  I understand Andy is still in the band–do they alternate venues?  Well, whatever the case, I thought Cush was great last time and I thought Spaldo was great this time.

This band is so much fun to watch.  Spaldo is often playing a great grooving bassline while Malach and other guitarist Danny Arakaki trade amazing licks.

The band only played three songs.  Normally this would bum me out because it would mean a short set for an opening band.  But their set was a full 45 minutes which meant one thing–lots of jamming.

They have three full length albums out and the opened the set with a song from 2019’s Natural Facts.  Spaldo sang lead on “Feels So Great” and Malach contributed backing vocals.  I also didn’t notice last time that Malach plays without a pick.  This was a great introduction to the band and a chance for them to get warmed up.

Even though Natural Facts came out in 2019 (in March), Garcia Peoples put out a second full length this year (in October).  This one is called One Step Beyond.  It only has two songs on it because the title song is 31 minutes long.

And that’s what they played next.

After a brief transition, they launched into “One Step Beyond.”  The recorded version has a lot of saxophone in the beginning, but they didn’t miss it.  They started and were off on a 20 plus minute journey.  I wasn’t paying attention to the time, so maybe they did play it for 30 minutes.

There’s obviously multiple parts in this song, and this middle grooving part with great bass is just one of them.

It wasn’t always easy to get a picture of drummer Cesar Arakaki but his drumming is really great too.  One of my favorite things about Garcia Peoples is when Danny and Tom play harmony guitar lines.  It’s something they do so well and it features prominently in “One Step Beyond.”

I was really delighted with how well this complicated song came off live.

After the epic was over, they had one more song in them.

It’s here that I get to say that I didn’t understand the name of the band until recently when I heard “The Sweet Lie” from Cosmic Cash and realized that it sounds an awful lot like The Grateful Dead (duh!).

Well, that’s clearly just one influence because their other songs don’t sound like the Dead.  In fact the next song they played, “Hangin’ On” sounds to me like the Meat Puppets.  But of course their other songs sound like all of their other influences, which is to say–like Garcia Peoples.

Like last time, keyboardist Pat Gubler was on the far side of the stage so I couldn’t really see him.  But his contributions were essential–fleshing out sounds and adding some extra soloing moments as well.

Garcia Peoples are headlining a show at Boot & Saddle in a few months and I am very much looking forward to what they can do with a headlining slot.  I might even stand on the left side this time.

 

SETLIST

1. Feel So Great
2. One Step Behind
3. Hangin’ On

from:

3. Cosmic Cash (2018)
1. Natural Facts (2019)
2. One Step Beyond (2019)