Snarky Puppy made their first appearance in Madison in five years Sept. 18 for an electrifying pair of sets at the new Wisconsin Union Theater.
Shannon Hall, the beautifully redesigned theater inside the Memorial Union, which opened in 1939, was built with an eye on comfort for its patrons. With a new capacity of 1,165, down from about 1,300, the theater is still spacious, but maintains a strong level of intimacy that one looks for in a concert venue.
Coming on a couple minutes after 9:15, bandleader and bassist Michael League announced they were opening the show up with a special guest, former James Brown drummer and Madison resident Clyde Stubblefield. With the “Funky Drummer” himself, the band took a stab at the James Brown classic, “Pass the Peas,” which sounded like they ran through it once in sound check and then forgot how to play it.
While originally a bit discouraged, though still in awe of the living legend, when Robert “Sput” Searight took his rightful seat back at the drum kit, sonically, things opened up significantly.
Taking an eastern sounding rhythm, the band tore through “Shofukan,” giving each band member their due before getting the crowd to join in on the liturgical chant of “Aaaaaaaaah,” which mimicked the melody. After a phenomenal drums and percussion breakdown, the band came back into the fold at the behest of the guitar riff and brought the song home.
Another highlight of the first frame came on the next song, which had a very “yacht rock” feel to it, sans (however) the crooning of Hall or Oates. League commanded the stage on this tune, playing a bass solo that wouldn’t seem out of place at a Weather Report show.
While that last remark is not a comparison to Jaco Pastorius, the sound of the solo had a very upbeat and swampy feel to it that you could find in the intro to “River People.” After five songs and about 45 minutes, the band took a quick set break.
After the break, as the band strode on to the stage, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before happened: At a totally seated show, a few people dashed to the front, followed by some more people and soon, a crowd three deep and fully abreast of the stage formed, dancing and hollering much to the delight of the band on stage.
To open up the second set, the band settled into a groove that could be found on a Chaka Khan song or on a Michael Jackson number, which was brought home by the rhythm trio of the bass, drums and percussion.
Two highlights of the second set was the back-to-back pairing of “Binky” and “Tio Macaco.” The former featured a heavy groove so thick you wouldn’t be able to step out of it if you tried with a dense polyrhythm from the drummer and percussionist while the horns went to town over a B3 and Rhodes infused layer. The latter was the band’s take on Latin Jazz, taking a flute head and funky drum-beat in every direction except the one you expect it to.
After bringing another five song set to a close and an encore, the band called it a night, but not before bringing a smile and a foot that just couldn’t stop moving to everyone in the audience. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take five more years for the band to come back to Madison, as that will be a show few in attendance will ever forget.
