Buy We Love ‘Em Tonight: Live at Tipitina’s
My life was empty, forever on a down
Until you took me, showed me around
Galactic is a New Orleans band and Tipitina’s is probably the most famous New Orleans venue, so if you expect this concert to be epic, well, you have good reason and you’re also right. Galactic is mostly instrumental, with vocals on only four of the thirteen tracks here, and what instrumentalists they are. The band fuses funk, rock, blues, jazz & soul to create a really exhilarating sound. Funky bass lines, jazzy drum fills, blistering harmonica leads, screaming guitar solos, blasting horn section; if this sounds good to you, this album will scratch your itch. It’s high energy and fun. There are a couple of selections here that don’t work and, par for the course for this kind of music, some of the pieces go on too long. But those are small quibbles compared to this intense live album. Really fantastic album. 3 ½ stars.
tl;dr – New Orleans band tears the roof off in an explosive live concert; jazz, blues, funk, soul and rock make a beautiful sound. 3 ½ stars.