Live Review: Galactic, Cypress Hill, Beach House (5-12-2007)

Last Saturday night I went and checked out the Southern Comfort Music Experience being held for free in Centennial Olympic Park downtown. The show was free and 21+, two things I’m a fan of. The rainy weather during the day kept the turnout very low, so we were easily able to get front row for Galactic. As I mentioned before, we pregamed watching a Stanton Moore instructional video, and it was a great way to get ready for a Galactic show. This was the first time I had seen them without “The Houseman” doing vocals, which I had hated in the past, so I was looking forward to hearing them as an instrumental group. They came out and put on a great show. I’m very picky about which jambands I like, and these guys are definitely a group I enjoy. They do a great job of taking genres and styles that have been very played out and breathe new life into them. Near the end of the set, Hip-Hop artist Mr. Lif joined them on stage to do a few songs including one off of the upcoming Galactic “Hip-Hop” album that will feature collaborations with Lyrics Born, Ladybug Mecca (Digable Planets) Gift For Gab (Blackalicious) and unfortunetly Lateef The Truth Speaker (man does he suck), plus many more. (There are reports that Charlie 2na will be performing with them at Bonnaroo) . Here’s some pics:

We decided to get out of the front to avoid the rowdy rednecks and the highly efficient and large security force for Cypress Hill. There was a slight downpour for a few minutes between sets, but it was the only rain we’d see. Cypress Hill came out with no elaborate stage setup as i had seen them use the first time I saw them, but they still brought the music full force. Despite a little new material from their upcoming album, the set was very “hit-friendly” and the entire crowd celebrated with billows of smoke.

I left near the end of Cypress Hill’s set to catch Beach House at The Earl. I arrived with plenty of time to get up front and enjoy this great duo. They did some new songs, one i really loved, and perfect renditions of their self-titled album’s best stuff. I seriously recommend checking out their album if you haven’t, because it is beautiful. The boys from Deerhunter were next to me at the show and they seemed to be digging it too. They closed with “Master Of None”, probably my favourite of theirs. The lighting was even worse than last time so I didn’t get any really good shots, but you can always look at Biggie C’s photos of Beach House earlier this year at The Earl. I wanted to catch The Clientele, who was on afterwards, but it didn’t work out.

Galactic torrents:

Galactic 2007-01-26 Roxy Theater, Atlanta, GA

Galactic 2007-01-27 Roxy Theater, Atlanta, GA

More goodies:

Cypress Hill and Sonic Youth: I Love You Mary Jane

Beach House : Master Of None