It took me six years to see my first show at The Space Ballroom, and only five days to return for my second. Walking into the venue, I couldn't believe the size of Ghost Funk Orchestra who overwhelmed the stage. Their rowdy set, mixing songs from all sorts of genres with high-energy grooves was the perfect opener for the Benevento trio that followed.
If you haven't seen Marco Benevento before, he's a mad genius on the keyboard. His band (Chris Corsico on drum, Karina Rykman on bass) was touring to promote their most recent release 'Barn Burner: Live at Levon's' which came out a few weeks ago. This band is one of the hardest to categorize that I have come across. It's part rock, jazz, soul, funk, jam, and synth.
The crowd was as diverse as the music on this evening. I found it astounding that aside from two big covers "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rock n Roll", I didn't know any of the music but found the set completely compelling for the musicianship, energy, and pure joy.
Karina Rykman is an absolute star in her own right on bass, and I was thrilled to catch her in a small venue. She seems to be popping up and making fans everywhere. Trey Anastasio co-produced her latest album 'Joyride" and played on several tracks. Her musical connection with Benevento was undeniable and such fun to watch.
Benevento brought out the horn section from Ghost Funk to jam out on a couple of tunes towards the show's end. Overall it was a fantastic evening of live music, where band/audience/venue combine into something special.