[ATTENDED: September 3, 2025] Karina Rykman
We didn’t really plan to go to this show, especially since it was right at the beginning of the school year. But, since these shows have a strict 9:30 curfew, we decided to drive the hour and get a free show with Karina Rykman! Because who doesn’t love a night of Karina!
The amazing thing is that Karina has recently posted videos of her in front of these giant festival crowds, and here we were surrounded by a few hundred people and able to get right up next to the stage.
Karina came out and the joy and good vibes started right away. It’s unclear whether the crowd knew her or not (although there were a lot of hippie types with jam band shirts on). The trio absolutely fills the space with guitar wizard Adam November filling the space with his effects and soloing skills and drummer Chris Corsico keeping things together but adding some fun too.
The opening instrumental jamming of the new song Lagos > Dirty South was just fantastic. A jamming/funky/super fun opening which got a whole lot of people off their feet and standing in front of the stage. This blocked our view and so we took this as a chance to get up and dance (well, sway, really). Which also meant getting right up on stage to see even better.
I always wonder what people think when they shift from the rocking instrumentals to her far more poppy and gentle song-songs. Her voice is so soft an airy (very different from her speaking voice). But these songs are a delightful breather before the grooviness of Plants comes on (with Adam November showcasing all of the cool sounds he can get from his gear).
Up next was another new song, Change My Flight (I guess a new album is on the way?) followed by the Ween cover Springtheme. When she was singing the lyrics I was think they didn’t sound like her lyrics and now I see that it’s a Ween cover. It segued perfectly into City Kids. The crowd loved City Kids and mid-song she brought up Jeremy Kaplan of Dogs in a Pile to play a lengthy melodica solo [no wonder she didn’t have time to play everything on the setlist]. (more…)
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