![]() A few older attendees nearby would point and stare, but rarely for long as they were moving and shaking to the rhythm the band was delivering. A couple of young kids on the rail began jumping up and down during the second solo of the second song, each one leveraging the height of the one beside them by pressing down on their shoulders to get just a bit more hype than their pals. The crowd, already primed from the sizzling openers, greeted Galactic’s showcase of talent and lighting with their best dance moves. The music veterans were more than up for the challenge, and with a literal wall of lights behind them, the band filled the space with production fit for a much higher capacity venue. To be gifted with such a sense of great escapism from for an opening band set the bar high for Galactic. Call it atmosphere, or a vibe, or something else altogether, but from that point forward Butcher Brown became tour guides through a place better than the one beyond the venue walls. Not in the ordinary sense, but in that way where you realize the reality of your shared experience with others on this planet. The tempo slowly built until the band’s jazz aesthetic teetered on the edge of becoming full-blown rock and roll. It wasn’t a particular sound or riff, but a sensation. Two, maybe three minutes into the second song in their instrumental set Butcher Brown fell into something special. The audience took a bit longer to fall in line, but by observing the audience from the side of the stage, you could see they were being won over one at a time on a person by person basis. The other members made their way onto the stage, each joining the jam already underway, and before long the full band was lost in the groove. He began tapping various pieces of his kit and very loosely started to build a base that the guitarist then, with similar looseness, added to in his way. The drummer kicked things off, though it didn’t seem intentional at first. Still, somehow, the band managed to create and envelope the room with an energy that no one could deny. They were the opening band in a two-band lineup that was walking out to a modest crowd spread thin by ample floor space and general early show awkwardness. When Butcher Brown took the stage at The Intersection on Wednesday, February 21, it was not to significant acclaim or fanfare. You know you’re in such a moment when the musicians, the audience, and even the bartenders in the back are pulled from the woes of life and placed into another plane of existence, a happier one. A truly captivating concert is a moment captured and squeezed for all that it is capable of being. Excellent performances are more than perfected repetition of familiar notes and phrases. The best live music doesn’t recreate something captured in a studio. The funk cannot be contained when Galactic and Butcher Brown come to town. ![]()
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