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This show took place at the beautiful Hill Auditorium at the University of Michigan. This particular room is very lively and more suited towards hosting acoustic and orchestral performances; however, this mix sounds great, and the band is still as high energy as ever. This show features mostly new music and lots of these versions sound quite different from the album versions. Something I thought was cool and didn’t notice until writing this, was that every song was grouped together alphabetically! I wonder if this was intentional. Track-By-Track Even Us – McQueen starts this one off like usual with aContinue Reading

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This show in Montreal is one of my absolute favorites. Firstly, the mix is extremely clear and balanced. Secondly, the setlist is magnificent.  This show consists of some of my favorites from Immigrance like Even Us, While We’re Young and Xavi as well as my favorite old tune, Flood, which was a lovely surprise considering they played it the previous night. This show also features Montreal’s own Malika Tirolien from Bokanté killing it on Xavi with a vocal solo and playing in unison with an extremely challenging horn melody. Very cool. Track-By-Track Even Us – McQueen starts this one off likeContinue Reading

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Doug and I are ready to start reviewing shows once again! We plan on covering every show on LiveSnarky.com  from this show on the 5th of September until the Nuremberg show on the 30th of November. This was the second show of the second half of the US tour as the first show in Philly on September 4 was not recorded on audio. However, here’s a partial video from Philly on our YouTube Channel. This New Haven show took place at ‘Toad’s Place”,’ a nightclub with a more casual atmosphere and a particularly rowdy crowd. The pup’s played a variedContinue Reading

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The second show of the night. A completely different setlist, a different atmosphere and some more incredible playing. Both of the Toronto shows are really interesting listens due to hearing how the band manages without having the usual 3 or 2 keyboardists. It’s also a lot of fun hearing how Bob and McQueen divide up their parts to not step on each other’s toes so to speak. It’s also great to have Jay Jennings in the lineup again as he often doesn’t manage to make Snarky’s busy touring schedule. Compared to Maz or Justin, Jay often brings a more bopContinue Reading

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This show in Paris was very special. This was less of a Snarky Puppy show and more of a Karim Ziad and Maalem Hamid El Kasri show. The Gnaouas musicians from Morocco joined the Pup’s a year after their first encounter in June 2018 and played a total of four drastically reworked songs together from the S.P catalogue as well as some favorites from Culcha Vulcha and Immigrance without the Gnaouas musicians. The energy throughout this show was just next level. I haven’t heard a crowd giving so much energy to the band before. This really helps loosen the nervesContinue Reading

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Snarky Puppy arrived in France for an outdoor show at the Wolfi Jazz Festival in Wolfisheim, North-East France. This show featured some very energetic, creative and musical playing from everyone and heaps of the Immigrance material. Like the other shows from the Summer Euro tour, Louis Cato’s drumming brings a whole new energy, dynamic and feel to the band so the tunes we’ve all heard time and time again take on a new life in a sense which keeps things extremely interesting from a listening standpoint. This show has one of my absolute favorite versions of GØ in it. Louis’Continue Reading

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This was one amazing show. Not only was the setlist outstanding but the overall energy seemed much higher than usual. The two saxophone players, Bob Reynolds and Chris Bullock played some truly epic solos in this show so other saxophone players should love this show. The pups played at the large Minglewood hall in the middle of Memphis which has both a bar section and the larger stage where the pup’s performed. The room was quite boomy acoustically but this didn’t stop the band from tearing up and Nic Hard from making the mix squeaky clean. Track-By-Track Embossed – TheContinue Reading

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This was a very special show at the incredible Kauffman Center for Performing Arts that showcased a more restrained and mature side to the band, but it was also extremely funky which made the longer build-ups all the more worthwhile. Mark Lettieri in particular was on fire this show and he played some truly breathtaking solos. JT’s adaptive and sensitive drumming was brought to the foreground throughout, but also his undeniably tight and precise pocket. Particularly, in some songs he managed to seamlessly push the tempo into oblivion without it coming across as clumsy or forced; this was really amazingContinue Reading

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Another open-air, amphitheater show for the pup’s in a row! This time, the pups headed north to Bellvue near Fort Collins, 90 miles away from the previous show in Morrison to the Mishawaka Amphitheater. Unlike Red Rocks, this stage was quite small and a little cramped. The horns for instance were angled slightly to make the most of the space. The show experienced some rain halfway through the set; this actually added a nice soundscape! The setlist they played was extremely varied and diverse and they managed to squeeze 11 songs into the hour and a half. They played oldContinue Reading

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After completing the West Coast leg and two shows in the mountain west region of the US, the Pup’s continued further north to the tiny city of Jackson Hole with a population of less than 10,000. Jackson Hole is surrounded by the very elegant Teton County Mountains where I believe some of the band went walking on their day off after the show. The concert took place in a brand new performing arts center in the middle of town – although you wouldn’t know with two  stories being as tall as any building gets. I was amazed by how manyContinue Reading