Gregory Porter 6/19/22 New Haven Green

 Grammy award winning soul jazz singer Porter graces the green for a  juneteenth evening show. As part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, Porter’s baritone blend of socially conscious tunes engaged a solid crowd. The band was piano, standup bass, sax,drums, and organ. Porter is comfortable scatting, crooning, or covering soul nuggets. On this Father’s Day evening,we got a little Papa Was a Rolling Stone, My Girl, and some Stevie Wonder medley. Porter’s Take Me ToThe Alley and Water Under The Bridge were both excellent. Happy to see a racially diverse, attentive crowd take advantage of this free show.

Dopapod 6/18/22 Spaceland Ballroom

 Jam band Dopapod was slated to open for George Clinton at College Street Music Hall. George cancelled (hair snafu?, blown piston on the Mothership?), and Dopapod took the hippie circus to Spaceland. The configuration reminded me of jam greats of the early aughts. Dexterous drumming, muscular bass, active keyboards (notably a Moog), noodly guitar and vocals topped with a generous helping of sophomoric lyrics. The packed house was into it, with fans bobbing to the lyrics and clapping percussively at just the right time. Two full sets of music is standard in the jam scene, and Dopapod didn’t disappoint. Interplay between keys and guitar was the highlight. I usually like a band like this to end with a well crafted cover, which did not occur. Good show of old fashioned jam.

Kraftwerk 6/10/22 MassMoca North Adams MA

 In what world is it ok for a quartet of 70-somethings to don graph paper jumpsuits, plug in a mess of synthesizers, travel halfway around the world, and play a set of seminal techno in a converted gas mask factory, in 3D, on my birthday, with my family, in German no less…..uh, Kraftwerk’s world, that’s who. German electronic pioneers, Kraftwerk put the Tech in techno, the Sour in Krautrock starting in the 70s with the transatlantic smash Autobahn. The opening thrum of that tune caught a little Andy’s ear in 1974, affording the same allure and danger as the shark approaching sounds of Jaws. Move forward to 1981, in college, and the release of Computerworld. With its cheesy Tandy computer on the cover, this record was so different than the punk and disco offerings at the time, spouting things like “computers are the future”, and “protect your data”… yeah right. Dance and rave culture came next, Kraftwerk’s The Model was a club hit and was sampled and covered by a wide variety of acts. On this evening, in front of a sold out MassMoca crowd, the 2022 incarnation of Kraftwerk took the stage. Four guys behind glow in the dark podia of synths, it looked like final Jeopardy in an alternate reality. Behind them was a monster screen that spewed futuristic images when viewed with your 3D glasses, trains, spaceships, numbers, Tour de France riders and the like all popped out. While the music can be criticized as “samey”, there are no windmill guitar riffs or backflips off a stack of Marshall’s, the prophetic consistency through the years garner the allegiance and praise they deserve. Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, it was a rare treat to see this pillar of rock in a live setting.