On Monday night, Brandon “Taz” Niederauer kicked off his brief run of the South with a show at Boca Raton, Florida’s Funky Biscuit. Marking the first of four nights in the Sunshine State before the young guitar prodigy heads to this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Taz and his four-piece band crafted a dynamic show, including surprise sit-ins from George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic‘s Eric McFadden and Dead & Company‘s Oteil Burbridge.
The majority of the performance found the teenage guitar virtuoso offering takes from his ever-growing catalog of originals, including ”Revival,” “I Can’t Live,” “Where I Belong,” “Dare,” “Find A Way,” “All I Need” and “Paralyzed.” Throughout these numbers, his backing band — featuring guitarist Mat Godfrey, bassist Matt Fox and drummer Kendall Lentz — proved their own prowess as well, tastefully working around and complementing Taz’s explosive fretwork.
However, highlights of the night came in the form of guest appearances from McFadden and Burbridge. The P-Funk guitarist appeared during the main set, after a cover of The Beatles’ “Blackbird,” which, per Live For Live Music, Taz identified as “one of the greatest songs ever written.” Following the cover, McFadden appeared on stage to offer his blistering guitar skills to a rendition of the Jimi Hendrix classic “Manic Depression.”
Later on in the evening, Oteil came forward during the encore to perform a rendition of “Yield Not To Temptation,” revisiting the catalog of his former project, Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit. Notably, the song took on special meaning, given that both Oteil and Taz were mentored by and friends with Col. Bruce before his death almost two years ago, offering the duo a chance to pay tribute to the larger-than-life “Granddaddy of the jam scene.”
Watch fan-shot videos from Monday’s performance below:
