Rising Boston jam band Neighbor turns five this year, and to celebrate the quartet is taking over Soundcheck Studios for a five-show residency. Neighbor will perform at the music venue/rehearsal space in Pembroke, MA every Tuesday through March 19th.
The band’s extended stay kicked off this week with a fitting debut of David Bowie‘s “Five Years”. Keyboardist Richard James crooned the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars track which ignited a run of four originals—”Southpaw”, “Thunder Island”, Somerville Shuffle”, and “Why I Like You”—to close set one. The high-point of the setlist and certainly the improvisational heavyweight of the evening was “Thunder Island”, which stretched to nearly the 40-minute mark.
Returning for the second set, Neighbor opened things up quite literally with the crowd participation composition “High Five Gauntlet”. For the uninitiated, the “High Five Gauntlet” is when James parts the Red Sea of the audience to create a clear path down the middle of the room. Various people will then run through the high-five gauntlet, slapping hands with the entire crowd while the band plays a bluesy Doors riff. Tuesday’s “High Five Gauntlet” was a special one, however, as the only person to run the gauntlet was Sonya Jefferson who has brought the music of Neighbor around the world with regular Mixlr live broadcasts of the band. For her service, she was rewarded with her own personal “High Five Gaunlet” before the band serenaded her with “Happy Birthday”.
Getting back to business, Neighbor broke up the gauntlet for a leisurely stroll through “Stranger Part of Town”. Hopping aboard the “New River Train”, Neighbor came “Crashing Down” with a rendition of their song of the same name, adding in fa trippy tease of “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory as they plummeted.
Neighbor still had more debuts in store with the brief, pretty instrumental “On The Mend”, followed by a sandwich of “Dux” between two halves of “Move Along Little Jimmy”. The band then summoned one more big jam with a closing run through “Headrush”. For the encore, Neighbor had one last debut up its sleeve as the band closed out the show with a serene, instrumental take on The Beatles‘ “In My Life”. Though the group’s version was instrumental, that didn’t stop members of the audience from singing along to the Lennon/McCartney classic.
Neighbor returns to Soundcheck Studios on February 27th. For tickets and a full list of tour dates visit the band’s website. Check out a gallery of images from Neighbor at Soundcheck Studios courtesy of photographer Joanna Gleason, along with full-show video and audio.
Neighbor – Soundcheck Studios – Pembroke, MA – 2/20/24 – Full Video
[Video: benatharius]
Neighbor – Soundcheck Studios – Pembroke, MA – 2/20/24 – Full Audio
[Audio: Mike_Boge]
Setlist: Neighbor | Soundcheck Studios | Pembroke, MA | 2/20/24
Set One: Five Years[1], Southpaw, Thunder Island, Somerville Shuffle, Why I Like You
Set Two: High Five Gauntlet[2] > Happy Birthday > Stranger Part of Town[3], New River Train, Crashing Down[4], On The Mend[5], Move Along Little Jimmy[6] > Dux > Move Along Little Jimmy, Headrush[7]
Encore: In My Life[8]
Footnotes:
[1] First time played (David Bowie).
[2] Sonya gauntlet!
[3] Lonely Rider tease and Tom Papp quote.
[4] Pure Imagination (Willy Wonka) and Happy Birthday teases.
[5] Debut.
[6] High Five Gauntlet, Crashing Down, and Pine Tree teases.
[7] Into The Sun and Negative Space teases.
[8] First time played (The Beatles). Instrumental.
The post Neighbor Opens 5-Show Soundcheck Studios Residency With Debuts Of Beatles, Bowie, & More [Photos/Video/Audio] appeared first on L4LM.
