This recap of this show from the House of Blues is primarily authored by Vincent Poinsot, an expert superfan. The set list and lineup are shown below.
Even Us – Embossed is becoming a nice set opener especially in smaller, enclosed venues. The first part is played as on the album and after, Justin takes a very energetic trumpet solo.
Embossed – This is the first (recorded) live performance, and the first we’ve heard since the GroundUP Music Festival 2019 debut. Like Even Us, the first part is played almost identically to the album and the horns are exceptionally bright and soaring. Then Chris McQueen takes a solo half noisy (in the first part of the solo, there’s a sound like a chicken squawking -Jake), half very melodic that ends with the always impressive horn intervention.
Tarova (Metropole version) : This is also the first (recorded) Tarova on the tour. Since July 13, 2018 (North Sea Jazz), Tarova has a new arrangement written for the Metropole Orkest and Snarky Puppy band has played it that way. After the famous unison guitar / bass / keyboards section, Chris Bullock takes a very groovy solo. Then Jamison lets Nate improvise to finish the tune. At the end of this tune, Michael discusses Game of Thrones which he was very engaged with during this particular time of the tour.
Bigly Strictness – On this version, Bobby and Maz start with a distortion contest. Shaun finishes the song with a beautiful talkbox solo. Many very nice ideas here, and 3 very different solos.
GØ – Like Tarova, GØ has changed a lot since 2016. It starts with a drum solo, and the main groove has changed completely. Chris Bullock takes the first solo with some very choppy, rapid playing and Justin takes the 2nd with a beautiful Rhodes sound. Michael follows him with incredible harmonic and rhythmic ideas. It’s Chris McQueen plays on the outro and it’s always very nice guitar solo with some super speed on this section.
Chonks – Maz takes the first solo on Chonks. It will take some time and several concerts for this song to find its groove, especially on the bridge where the horns have a part that may seem simple but is actually very complicated to play, especially for trumpets. Bobby plays on the outro as on the album, and the guys let him alone for a moment for a pretty wild trippy solo before the band rolls right into Thing of Gold.
Thing Of Gold – “Gold” is a great success of the band that has been played a lot on this part of the tour. Justin improvises on keyboards on the bridge with a nice jazzy interlude and Shaun plays the theme and a Moog solo to finish. As is typical with Shaun, the solo is never the same and this time he interjects a little Stevie Wonder “You’ve Got It Bad Girl” as a tease.
Xavi – As usual now with this new “international” tune, Michael leads a clapping experiment with the audience before Xavi (actually at the end of “Gold” track. It failed more than in other cities which is funny considering the number of Berklee College of Music students present in the room. Maz on flugelhorn and Chris McQueen take the first two solos and Justin takes his 3rd Rhodes solo of the evening.
Sleeper – Sleeper encore is all Shaun. Beautiful way to finish a concert full of new songs.
This show was an all around excellent performance with standouts in particular Maz, Justin and McQueen for their solo work as well as Shaun on Thing of Gold and Sleeper.