New Monsoon at The Majestic Theatre, Madison, WI
The only question was, would it be a heavy one set or a moderate two set night? Sunday night’s performance at The Majestic was New Monsoon’s last night of a lengthy East coast to Midwest tour. Coming off of playing their 6th night in a row, Madison was the band’s final stop before returning home to San Fransisco. No worries there as they seemed to have left their best and longest jams for this Sunday night (also being mothers day).
With the lights dim and the orange glow from above, The Majestic is ready for New Monsoon. They start out with a long jam, and eventually go into “The Other Side”, which really wakes the crowd up. Bo Carpenter talks about “Alaska” before playing it, and this gets the crowd moving. At this point it seemed like they would walk off the stage for a short break. Nope! They go into “Traveling Gypsies” and this worldly jam takes the crowd to their peak, with Jeff Miller and Bo Carper soloing with guitar & banjo to their limits. Set two? No way! Phil Ferlino stands above his keyboards making his keys sing like Jeff Miller’s guitar. The rhythm section stays in sync with Sean Hutchinson taking a spotlight a few times and Marshall Harrell always keeping a phat beat. The night was an amazing long set by New Monsoon. The crowd really got into their jams and found their own groove, whether they were on the dance floor, grabbing a drink at the bar, finding excellent merchandise at the bands table, or in their seats above the dance floor. It was a great night of music in the Mad City. — Dave
It was a pleasure to hear (and see) New Monsoon play in the relatively intimate setting of The Majestic Theater this Sunday. Exam week and a chilly breeze kept the crowd thin but that did not deter the band from putting in a solid couple of hours of jammy grooves, including a Talking Heads cover. For those of you who missed New Monsoon this time around, they will be back in Madison this summer. We’ll keep you posted so check back frequently. As always, please feel free to e-mail us with your comments and photo enquiries. See you at the next show – Ankur
