Bowlive 2! Night 2! Soulive kept the Brooklyn Bowl pumping with soul, funk and hip-hop last night.  The power trio, consisting of guitarist Eric Krasno and brothers organist Neal and drummer Alan Evans, hosted hip-hop artists WAX and Pharoahe Monch for a night of hip-hop laden funk. 

WAX opened the show with a few solo songs warming the crowd up before members of Soulive and Lettuce joined for a horn-raging “Shake.”  The vibe was different from last night’s performance as the audience was filled with more hip-hop heads rather than old school Maceo fans.  Just like last night, the energy was the UP UP UP just the same! 

This evening would mark Soulive’s twelfth birthday. Nigel Hall introduced the members of Soulive and Neal Evans delivered the birthday news to the crowd before they played into a set of songs from their first album Get Down, released in 1999!

A raging Lettuce set closed out the night with sensational hip-hop artist Pharoahe Monch stepping in and spittin’ his way through “Welcome to the Terradome,” “Shine” and many of his signature songs.  This set was pure fire as drummer Adam Deitch beat on busted cymbals and Neal Evans almost knocked over his keyboard as they played with fierce excitement.  Nigel Hall (The Nigel Hall band), Alecia Chakour (Alecia Chakour & the Osrah) and Lenesha Randolph (Robert Randolph and the Famiyl Band) joined in on background vocals while the horns section consisting of Eric Bloom (The Diane Bitch Band), Ryan Zoidis (Rustic Overtones), Igmar Thomas (The Igmar Thomas Quartet) and Brian Thomas (Akashic Record) provided that layer of funk that we all crave. 

The highlight of the night, however, was when Talib Kweli bolted out onto the Lettuce stage to rip open "Move Somethin'" & “Get By.”

Soulive keeps the party going tonight with a Parliament Funkadelic tribute with P-Funk member Bernie Worrell leading the pack. 

- Karen E. Dugan

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