Show Review - Snarky Puppy 9/30/23 Denver, CO
Snarky Puppy’s Colorado weekend continued last night at Denver’s Ogden Theatre. After an amazing first night in Breckenridge, the 11-piece band brought the heat once again for an Empire Central-heavy set, celebrating the first anniversary of the album’s release.
Nate Wood’s fOUR project once again opened the night with a 45-minute set of virtuosic playing, and my proximity to the stage gave a much more drum-heavy experience than in Breckenridge.
Snarky Puppy took the stage just after 9:00 and opened with the movie-soundtrack vibe of “Portal.” Through a flugelhorn solo from Jay Jennings and some excellent spice on percussion from Keita Ogawa, this beautiful song was a great way to start the show.
“Coney Bear” made its second appearance of the weekend and blasted through an excellent saxophone solo from Chris Bullock. It’s always interesting to hear how different soloists approach the songs, especially hearing them on back-to-back shows, and Bullock’s vibe could not have been more different than Maz’s wah-trumpet work in Breckenridge.
It was time to dig into some more improvisational waters as bassist Michael League and drummer Nikki Glaspie set up the intro to “Broken Arrow.” One of the coolest additions to this song has been the groovy rhythmic build that allows for textural contributions from any member of the band before guitarist Mark Lettieri smoothly and subtly brings in the opening riff. For the solo section, keyboardist Bill Laurance attacked the Fender Rhodes with gusto, dancing up and down the keys over the pulsating groove laid down by the rhythm section.
“Bet” kept the energy high through an amazing Maz trumpet solo, with Lettieri taking the lead on the sneaky guitar “solo” in between the triumphant chorus sections. Keyboardist Justin Stanton took this tune out on Prophet synthesizer as League bounced around the stage like a kid in a candy store – his ever-present infectious joy at watching his bandmates play is truly amazing to watch.
The Lettieri-penned “Trinity” came next, its moody twists and turns offering a great platform for keyboardist Bobby Sparks to go in on whammy clav. An often-used move, he took both solos of this song – giving the audience a chance to hear him solo in both dark and joyous settings.
For his lone solo spot of the night, saxophonist Bob Reynolds built into the Jennings-penned “Cliroy.” With most of the band leaving him, Glaspie, and Sparks on Moog bass alone, there was ample space for him to stretch out and infuse some subtle delay work into the song. Laurance jumped in with some layered Rhodes work as the solo developed, showcasing the interplay that can be reached by members of the band during the more long-form improvisational sections.
Another repeat from Breckenridge came with “Xavi,” a decidedly cleaner rendition than Friday’s. Lettieri approached the first solo in a similar shreddy fashion as he did in Breck, but it was the Bullock flute solo that really blew me away on the B section. I love that instrument in the context of this band and its relatively quiet sound forced the rhythm section to mellow out the groove during the solo. Laurance took an excellent piano outro before the absurdly complex ending was executed perfectly.
Our ballad (or “breather”) song came next, with “Belmont,” a beautiful song dedicated to the late Bernard Wright, Snarky Puppy’s “Yoda” who passed away just after the recording of Empire Central. The last time I saw “Belmont” live in June, Stanton was handling the piano and synthesizer parts together – but the addition of Laurance in this fall’s lineup allows each keyboard layer to shine on its own, which sounded absolutely breathtaking. Stanton went on to take an emotional trumpet solo in this song to close out the Empire portion of the set.
After a slow song, the energy went sky-high once again with the opening chords to “What About Me?.” Lettieri’s second solo on this song in two nights took a very different turn, largely due to Glaspie’s aggressive and driving beat. The guitarist unleashed his signature choppy rhythm and funk while League egged the crowd on in a constant stream of clapping. Glaspie took her turn on the outro and demolished it once again, much to the glee of the crowd, who gave her a massive ovation when she was introduced.
Returning for the encore, we were treated to a ripping “Shofukan,” complete with an extra little dose of funky jamming thanks to a riff from Sparks.
Another awesome show in the books as Snarky Puppy heads to Boulder tonight to close out their trio of Colorado shows! Maybe we’ll see some more older material make its way into the show…