A Night With G. Love & Special Sauce Makes Everything Beautiful
— by Carrie Zukoski
What a night. The crowded, intimate (and newly refurbished/better lit) room of Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room in St. Louis hosted G. Love & Special Sauce on the first night of their Lemonade Anniversary Tour. Makua opened the night.
Opening nights are always a little tricky. Do they have it together? Are the kinks worked out? But when it’s a seasoned performer in a space they’ve occupied during previous tours (they are no strangers to St. Louis), and it’s not a flashy show, those trepidations quickly melt away (and everything appeared to go off without a hitch).
Hawaiian-born vocalist, Makua (Makuakai Rothman) opened the night with about 45-minutes of his catchy reggae-infused, poppy, jamming tunes. Flanked by a drummer and guitarist, the 41-year-old has been performing his music since 2012. A life full of highs and lows, Makua channels that into his lyrics, sharing that “these songs aren’t bullshit. I went through this stuff,” as he introduced “California Sober.” By the end of his set, the crowd was head-bopping, swaying, and jumping up and down, not only to his music but to his infectious energy.
G. Love & Special Sauce (with a last-minute replacement for bassist Jim Prescott, who recently broke his fibula) are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of Lemonade, which is now highly touted as one of the band’s most influential albums. The trio kicked their set off with the bangin’ “Banger” and continued to perform nearly the entire album while sprinkling in a few favorites from other albums, including “I-76.” They also performed the slinky, sultry “Weekends are for Making Love,” which is on their newest album, Ode to R.L. Garrett Dutton (G. Love) dedicated it to all the parents in the crowd.
The up close and personal venue made for a special night for everyone involved. No stranger to St. Louis, this east-coast bluesy, hip hop, rock, soul mixture of a band have performed here as well as larger venues across the city during the decades they’ve been performing.
Dutton was keen on pointing out that if it weren’t for the fans who come out to support music, there wouldn’t be a band. He thanked everyone more than once and mentioned he’d be out after the concert to sign merchandise.
The mood remained light and airy throughout the show as fans grooved along to the likes of “Holla!” and “Cold Beverage.” They ended the night with the sweet, jaunty ditty “Rainbow.”
G. Love & Special Sauce are easy to enjoy, and their warm, soulful, hip-hop, bluesy melodies are the right amount of catchy, which makes a gloomy Midwestern January night worth leaving the confines of one’s abode to head out and support live music.
Find many more photos here: https://bit.ly/GLove25cz
