Ok, I know I suck, over the summer I had a chance to catch alternative rock band Big Something and the jazz instrumental fusion band Tauk at Washington, DC’s Hamilton Ballroom a few weeks ago. It was my first time at the venue and hopefully not the last. It is set next door to a hotel and features an upscale restaurant upstairs and has a large basement ballroom that serves food, drink and occasional music act. The acoustics in the place were pretty solid.
North Carolina alternative rock band Big Something got things going with a cover of the the always popular 1999. My motto is any concert that starts off with a Prince cover can’t go wrong. It tells me that I’m going to be in for a night of rock and funk and Big Something didn’t disappoint. Original tracks Waves, UFOs Are Real, A Simple Vision were supplemented with covers that included Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and an excellent version of The Who’s Baba O’Reilly, which featured an appearance from Tauk’s guitarist Matt Jalbert.
After getting pumped up from Big Something. The headliners, NYC based Tauk came out to enthusiastic applause from the sold out house. Tauk is a 4 piece instrumental band that blends jazz, funk, R&B and electronica together to form something cool and unique. I would probably classify them as a straight-ahead, balls to the wall jam band. Tauk is features Matt Jalbert (guitar), Charlie Dolan (bass), Alric “A.C” Carter (keyboard-organ), and Isaac Teel (drums).
Many of their numbers went on for a full 10 or 15 minutes, which admittedly at times felt a bit repetitive (I think this about most electronic music) but you couldn’t help but hold your beer or drink of choice and just groove to the rhythm. Their extensive 15-song set included songs from their new album including Tumbler, Collateral, The Chemist, Sweet Revenge, as well as outstanding covers of The Beatles’ I Want You (So Heavy), Radio Head’s I Might Be Wrong, and from Kill Bill: Battle Without Honor or Humanity (Tomoyasu Hotei).
Tauk’s Set List:
- The Chemist
- Mokumba
- Sweet Revenge
- Afro-Tonic
- Tumbler
- In the Basement of the Allamo
- When In Doubt
- Battle Without Honor or Humanity (Tomoyasu Hotei: Kill Bill)
- Dead Signal
- I Might Be Wrong (Radiohead)
- Dusty Jacket
- Collateral
Encore
- Friction
- Mindshift
- I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (The Beatles)
Big Something’s Set List
- 1999 (Prince)
- The Undertow
- A Simple Vision
- Saturday Night Zombie >
- Frankenstein (Edgar Winter) >
- Pinky’s Ride
- Pinky’s Woman
- Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel)
- Waves
- UFOs are Real*
- Love Generator*
- Baba O’riley* (The Who)
- Amanda Lynn*
While I don’t talk about Big Something’s set in this article, the combination of Big Something and Tauk made for a fun night on the town. If you have a chance to see either of these bands you should take it. They both have big futures ahead.
Big Something’s new album Truth Serum is now available. For more information check out their website http://www.bigsomething.net/home.
Tauk’s latest album Collision is available at http://taukband.com/
Final Grade B
Videos
Tauk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=BkYbiPWIK2c
Big Something