Soulive brings McCullough alive

Author: May Chan

Friday night was alive with sounds of whistling and chanting as excited Soulive fans packed into McCullough. At 10 p.m., the shrieks and roars gained momentum as the crowd anticipated the start of the show. As the curtains split to reveal the four band members and the first sweet, electrifying notes began flying off Eric Krasno's guitar, Soulive was welcomed by applause ripping through the crowd.

Soulive came together in the spring of 1999 with drummer Alan Evans, his organist brother Neal and guitarist Krasno. Their plan was to bring back jazz and spice it up with their strong bass lines and hard beats. Their music is mostly instrumental, and they have collaborated with artists such as Chaka Khan, Reggie Watts (Maktub) and Robert Randolph.

Most of the Friday night crowd was familiar with the group before the show, although some came out of curiosity and said they did not really know much about the band.

Soulive started off with some hard and funky beats, picking up their pace throughout the night. Drummer Evans sat in a sleeveless red shirt to the left of the stage flipping his wild, unkempt ponytail in concert with each blow he made to the drums. Ryan Zoidis stood in the back, soulfully playing his saxophone as Krasno swayed and nodded to the music, his face hidden beneath his black cap. Organist Evans exploded across the keyboards, standing while playing throughout the entire show.

The group played some songs from the new album "Break Out," such as "Crosstown Traffic," "Reverb," "Back Again" and "Vapor." Soulive also included some old favorites such as "Swing on Me" and "Lenny," bringing in a special guest appearance by Reggie Watts.

With tickets sold out and a full crowd, Soulive's performance received pleased reactions from die-hard fans. "I came up just to see them," said Dave Wright '05. Middlebury students nodded to the melodic tunes on the dance floor, some shaking it out and jumping to the strong bass right beneath the stage, and others twirling and dancing as Reggie Watts belted out "She's Hooked" from the new album.

"Their keyboard artist is so good. It's hard to hear him when you're not listening to him specifically, but when you really listen to him, he's amazing," said Graham Majorhart '09. As the drummer got up to dance, his brother broke the relaxing, mellow tempo and played solo, his fingers flying across his Hammond B-3 organ at an exhilarating speed.

"That's pure genius flowing from his fingers," said a voice in the audience.

After that, the band came to life again. While most of the audience indulged in the soothing blends of jazz, soul and hip-hop, others hoped for a bit more.

"I enjoyed it," said Laura Nicola '06, "I think they're really good - but it would be great if they had more songs with vocals."

Others thought the music would be more appropriate in a smaller, less active place, perhaps where people were seated. "They were really talented but I thought the setting was wrong," said Chris Bohorquez '07.

When asked about his overall impression of the performance of his favorite band, Will Carroll '07.5 said that although "the absence of Rashawn Ross on trumpet took away from the new horn section," he still appreciated Reggie Watts' guest appearance. Carroll also said, "His renditions of the vocal-based songs on the new album were so, so hot."

Even so, while Soulive kept the audience entertained for most of the night, Carroll left McCullough Social Space a little less than satisfied. "I wish they had closed with something more inspiring," he said.

Taken as a whole, student responses to Soulive were a mixed bag. Reactions from the crowd ranged from thrilled to less than captivated, but overall feedback fell somewhere closer to the positive side of things. All told, Soulive definitely gained at least a few new fans from last Friday's performance.