Show Review - Snarky Puppy 4/6/23 Buffalo, NY
My first live experience with the Grammy-winning band!
Love Snarky Puppy? Check out the new Storm Sound podcast Things of Gold! We are on a journey to chronicle the evolution of their live sound across their illustrious career!
Snarky Puppy’s Empire Central tour rolled through Buffalo last night for a sold-out performance at the Town Ballroom.
Opening act and GroundUP label members C4 Trío, a group from Venezuela, delivered a 45-minute performance of whirlwind acoustic work. The three members (plus special guest Michael League on bass) opened the ears of the audience to a new side of virtuosic music with huge smiles on their faces – they even threw in a tease of Snarky Puppy classic “Shofukan”!
The ten members of Snarky Puppy took the stage after a brief break and delivered an eleven-song performance heavy on material from their most recent album Empire Central plus a few older tunes.
Click here to read my in-depth review of the Grammy-winning record!
The Band:
Michael League – bass
Bob Lanzetti – guitar
Shaun Martin – keyboards
Justin Stanton – keyboards/trumpet
Jay Jennings – trumpet/flugelhorn
Mike “Maz” Maher – trumpet/flugelhorn
Chris Bullock – tenor sax/flute
Nate Werth – percussion
Jason “JT” Thomas – drums
Beginning the set with Empire lead single “Trinity,” Bullock took the opportunity to deliver a solo similar to his album version as League’s punchy bass notes reverberated around the room. Lanzetti lit up the upbeat outro with great guitar work. “Coney Bear” was tapped next, a rollercoaster-like track composed by the guitarist that highlighted the unique wah-trumpet work from Maz.
The Jennings-penned “Cliroy” acted as a nice breather as its lovely horn solis floated into a Martin organ solo. Fellow keyboardist Stanton introduced some crafty Minimoog bass lines for the organist to play off of as he dropped an emphatic P-Funk quote. The frenetic energy of “Pineapple” was tapped next and saw excellent solos from Jennings and Stanton.
The instant-classic pairing of “Keep It On Your Mind” and “East Bay” was served up next – the former getting two Brock violin solos and the latter getting a warm-toned guitar excursion from Lanzetti after the irregular and bass-heavy intro.
“Tarova” breaks the streak of Empire Central songs with just its second performance in the past year. Martin’s talkbox has some brief technical issues, leading to antics and an extended intro before Bullock picks up the song’s main solo and goes ham on it. Werth goes in on the outro with a wildly awe-inspiring run of percussion hits so fast his hands were almost blurring. “Bet” is up next and features a clean Maz solo and an outing from Martin on talkbox.
League took a moment to greet the crowd and say hello, accidentally provoking Shaun into a hilarious leading of a Shout! chant with the Bills faithful.
JT gets into his classic Texas shuffle on the ensuing “RL’s”, which contains standout moments from Lanzetti, Jennings on flugelhorn, and Brock.
A really cool moment came next with an atypical intro to “Thing of Gold.” League laid down some spacey and thick bass that the other band members added to, slowly morphing into the intro of the song courtesy of the distinctive saxophone melody. Bullock shone once again before Martin took it to the heavens with a gorgeous Moog solo. Another brief cloud of space closed out the main set.
For the encore, the sold-out Buffalo crowd was treated to an exceptional version of “What About Me?” complete with extended solos from Stanton and JT.
Similar to how Stanton stayed on to goad and prod Martin during the latter’s “Cliroy” solo, Martin stuck around during the open section of Stanton’s run on “WAM,” dropping quick stabs of organ around the Minimoog and piano work. The rest of the band jumped back in for some improv before returning home to the song and giving JT the floor. His only big solo of the night got the full spotlight as League even stopped playing the bass vamp for a couple of minutes as the drummer absolutely trashed his kit to end the night.
Snarky Puppy is on tour now in the US until the end of April. Tickets are still available for most shows – GO SEE THEM!!