More photosJewish rap/reggae star Matisyahu plays Pompano Beach Amphitheater. (Stephanie Colaianni / www.maggish.com)
When: May 30
Our review: Matisyahu’s new tour started with a rainbow.
Actually, the rainbow in question showed up during Les Claypool’s set Saturday night at Pompano Beach Amphitheater. But it was a good sign — rain threatened, but it never poured, and it turned into a lovely evening, weather-wise.
(In fact, Rob Marscher, aka Matisyahu’s keyboard player, photographed it for posterity and posted it to Twitpic.)
As for the show, the rainbow was a good sign as well. Especially for Claypool.
The former Primus bassist/lead singer showed he’s about as far away from his old band’s more sludgy style. There’s a massive sense of fun about Claypool’s music, which combines jazz, funk, Latin and cartoon soundtracks.
These days Claypool is about as close to playing the role Frank Zappa once played — part genius, part comic, all musician — as anyone in music. And his band — Mike Dillon on vibraphone (playing the coolest since Lionel Hampton), Paolo Baldi on drums and Sam Bass on distorted cello — keeps up with all sides of Claypool.
Matisyahu also showed how his sound has grown as the headliner. His backing band was also of interest — he incorporated Dub Trio, a Brooklyn-based experimental rock outfit, into it. The result was bringing a heavier level to his more well-known songs.
Sometimes it worked, especially on his more powerful songs, like “Warrior”. But other times, on the title track to his second album Youth, not so much.
The great news for the Jewish rapper/reggae star is that the songs he introduced on his upcoming album Light were some of the show’s brightest moments — “Thunder” was an especially strong song, and the crowd also responded well to “One Day”, which could easily become a live favorite.
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TrulyoneofthebestClaypoolshows.Anyrecordings?
Agreed, Les did an awesome job. I don’t have any recordings personally, but put it this way, if he puts last night’s show out as a live album, I’m buying it. Especially if he includes the percussion duet Mike Dillon and Paolo Baldi exploded their way through.