Spirit Family Reunion Played Bowery Ballroom

On Saturday night Spirit Family Reunion played Bowery Ballroom. I know most of the band so I was super excited for them. If any band deserves to play the big stage it's Spirit Family. Not only did they play but they managed to sell the place out, which is incredible!

The first act up that night was Blind Boy Paxton, who is a 24 year old kid from Watts, Los Angeles. Somehow in that urban jungle he discovered blues, Americana, ragtime and bluegrass and he dedicated his life to it. The man is fantastic! He plays several instruments - banjo, guitar, fiddle and more - and plays them all very well. Seeing him play is like getting into a time machine and transporting yourself to the Mississippi Delta in the 1920's. Not only is he an awesome musician but he has a great stage presence, getting laughs throughout the set.

The next act was out of place on the bill. Something just didn't click so I headed downstairs and sucked down some brews to kill the time.

As I headed back up I ran into to Stephen from SFR. He came over, said hello and we caught up a bit. I asked him what it felt like to sell out Bowery Ballroom and he very sincerely answered, "I'm freaked out, man".

A few minutes later they took the stage to a packed house and started up. The set was made up of quite a few tunes that I haven't heard them play before. They sound absolutely amazing and the enthusiasm they showed was contagious. They absolutely owned that stage and I can honestly say it was one of the best shows I've ever seen at Bowery Ballroom.

They closed with "When My Name Is Spoken" which is one of my favorites and also a favorite of the crowd. Everyone was singing along and dancing around. Then went off stage for a few minutes and came back for an encore. They asked the sound man to kill all the mics except the main one and then the whole band gathered around for a stunning rendition of "I'll Find A Way". The whole band took turns on vocal duty and then Nick stepped forward in front of the stage and shouted a sing-along with the crowd. Every single person there joined in. It was so loud that you could barely hear the band.

Before the song started Stephen came over to the mic and told the crowd how he was at a show at Bowery Ballroom a few weeks earlier and texted his manager saying, "I don't think we can do this, man" - well, they did it and they did it better than anyone I've seen do it there before.