Galactic had a parade all its own stocked with special guests for its Mardi Gras homestand at New Orleans, LA’s center of music and mayhem, Tipitina’s. Worldwide percussion sensation Pedro Segundo and lightning-fast bounce rapper HaSizzle helped crank the energy setting to “Danger Zone” levels. If Mardi Gras wasn’t enough excess on its own, the United States as a whole was preparing to engage in its own annual ode to overdoing it…the Super Bowl. While fans from around the world made the big game the most watched television event since the 1969 moon landing on Sunday, the night before the place to be wasn’t in Las Vegas for the pregame parties, it was a small club in the heart of the Big Easy.
New Orleans throws music events and parties like most people have hot meals, seemingly multiple times a day. That said, while events like the upcoming New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival juggernaut surely make the city more money and pack the clubs denser than any other time of the year there’s no competing with the sheer spectacle of Mardi Gras. The parades fill the streets with inspired floats that dominate the days and even early evenings with a psychedelic display of color and joy. Come night time though, from Bourbon Street to the stages of every club in town, there’s just so much music happening all at once that there’s no way to see it all. At the heart of it all is the beloved music Mecca Tipitina’s, the clear apex of sound and music culture.
The weekend’s Mardi Gras fun at Tips had started the night before when another Crescent City hometown fave, Dumpstaphunk, funked things up with their special guests like the mighty sax legend Karl Denson. Galactic isn’t the most competitive lot in the world, generally happy to share the stage with everybody, but the band certainly wasn’t about to let another band outshine it in its own house during a weekend as important as Mardi Gras. Bringing out Segundo from the instrumental opening of the set with “Y’er Comes the Funky Man” borrowed from Bob French’s Storyville Jazz Band showed the band’s intent from the get-go.
Galactic – Tipitina’s – New Orleans, LA – 2/10/24 – Preview
Current front diva Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph joined Galactic right after to turn up the heat. Jelly arrived in style with a couple massive strings of beads, a goblet of wine, and a mind to wind up the crowd before she even sang the first note of “You Don’t Know”. She did double duty as singer and hype woman through the next two tunes, “Domino” and “Making It Better”, before briefly bowing out to let Galactic do its instrumental thing with a stellar “Go Go” that saw regular supporting player Eric Gordon (trumpet) team up with founding sax guru Ben Ellman for some truly impressive call and response jams.
To call drummer Stanton Moore a funk legend still seems to be underselling his insane skills and pairing with the phenomenal percussionist Pedro Segundo was certainly borderline overkill. Their spotlight solo was full of inspired intertwining and spot-on synchronicity and was surely one of the highlights of the evening. Moore’s bandmates, who had stepped into the wings to let the pair do their thing, were all smiles and cheers as the beats went ballistic.
Jelly returned to the stage to crank it up a notch on a trio of vocal numbers, “Right On”, new, political tune “Lady Liberty” (played for just the second time per Setlist.fm), and “Never Called You Crazy”. She dedicated the last one to the crazy people in the world and from the sounds of the cheer that went up from the crowd more than a few of them were in attendance.
The aptly named old-school Galactic instrumental “Church” blew as many minds Saturday night as it did in its decades-past debut. When Jelly returned even she seemed to recognize it was time to slow things down with a sultry “Something’s Wrong With This Picture”. Joseph’s soul-charged take imparted a feminine charge to the always-powerful ode to the indignity Black Americans suffered to build the nation, adding misogyny to the sins numbered in an already socially damning song.
A trio of covers from the likes of Allen Toussaint (“Yes We Can Can”), Dr. John (“Qualified”), and Gene McDaniels (“Compared To What?”) helped Galactic capture the spirit of the weekend and close out its set in style. A short break gave everyone a chance to catch their breath before Jelly and the boys came back out for dual encores of Professor Longhair’s “Go to the Mardi Gras” and crowd fave “Dolla Diva”. Bounce rapper and fellow hype maven HaSizzle got so the house wound up they virtually exploded before, as all good things must, the show ended.
You can be forgiven if you weren’t among the privileged audience who managed to get a highly sought-after ticket to see Galactic do its Mardi Gras thing at Tipitina’s. You certainly weren’t the only ones shut out, sadly. That said, those in the know and those in the right place at the right time will tell you, there’s simply no finer place to be in the world when Galactic takes that stage on a sold-out Mardi Gras Saturday night.
Check out a collection of videos from Galactic, Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, and friends at Tipitina’s for Mardi Gras from Scott Sigman. The band travels next to San Francisco for a show at The Fillmore on Saturday. For tickets and a full list of tour dates visit the band’s website.
Galactic ft. Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph – Tipitina’s – New Orleans, LA – 2/10/24 – Partial
Setlist: Galactic | Tipitina’s | New Orleans, LA | 2/10/24
Set: Y’er Comes the Funky Man (Bob French’s Storyville Jazz Band), You Don’t Know, Domino, Making It Better, Go Go, Right On, Lady Liberty, Never Called You Crazy, Church, Something’s Wrong With This Picture, Qualified (Dr. John), Crazyhorse Mongoose, Yes We Can Can (Allen Toussaint), Compared To What (Gene McDaniels)
Encore: Go To The Mardi Gras (Professor Longhair), Dolla Diva
The post Galactic Celebrates Mardi Gras At Tipitina’s With Special Guests & Tributes To NOLA Legends [Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
