The idea of making music in 2024 and having to brand a label to it, genre wise, it has become sadly the normal, in the world of contemporary music.
Rather fortunately, though, every once in a while, there are still, out there, those very few musicians that still believe music is uncalculated art and, as such, it should be completely free-form and reflect exactly the personality and the artistic flair of said artists.
In that respect, the Anglo/American collective Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse constitutes a rather inspiring breath of fresh air, in the often idealess stagnant music business, thanks to their polyhedric love of music in all its aspects, which is something that is very well reflected in the band's new album called Hot Nostalgia Radio (which our website is going to review next week), due to be released in the next few days.
To support Hot Nostalgia Radio, Louisiana-born singer/songwriter Greta Valenti and her husband, partner-in-crime and guitarist extraordinaire Robin Davey a.k.a. Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse, are currently in the middle of touring the United Kingdom, showcasing their brand new album and our website was honoured to be invited to their live show in the Hampshire town of Aldershot, where the duo, supported on stage by the same band members who recorded the new album with Valenti and Davey (long-time band member Stephen Mildwater on bass guitar, Tom Rasulo on drums and Sam Robertson on piano and accordions), provided an incendiary two hours-plus blend of old and new material, navigating between steamy 70's Psychedelia, R&B, Folk, Country and Rock with their well-known powerful stage performance that makes Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse among those very unique collectives in the world still able to play each and every show with such passion and intensity like it could be their last, just as they did tonight.
The band's new material from Hot Nostalgia Radio sounds as awesome (if anything, even better live) as in studio, as their new and old fans will find out in few days and our website can clearly detect that the crowd is already very enamoured with the new songs, judging by the reception received in tonight’s performance, especially on tunes like The Runaway, Harder To Breathe, Mama Cray, Wild Woman and Satisfy Your Queen, among others.
The band, on stage, is truly unstoppable, between the immensely powerful vocal range and stage persona exhibited, once again, by Greta Valenti, the outstanding guitar solos so masterfully and skilfully executed by that genial guitar player that is Robin Davey, the solid and very reliable work done by the band's Rhythm Section made by Rasulo and Mildwater and the incredibly harmonious and occasionally playful and dissonant performance of Robertson, both on piano and accordions.
Valenti and Davey certainly know how to work an audience and tonight is no exception. Between unexpected covers like Beyonce's Texas Hold'Em and crowd-pleasers such as What's My Name and the breath-taking Louisiana Good Ride, where, on the latter, there is a fiery and fabulous call and response between Davey's cutthroat guitar playing and Robertson's piano, the excitement running through the numerous fans that came to the West End Centre is visibly palpable, as it grows more and more as the show goes on.
By the time Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse salute their fans, after the last electrifying encore of T-Rex's 20th Century Boy, there is such an atmosphere of joy and euphoria running on and off the stage, like you wouldn't want a special night of music like this to end.
As our website is sure that tonight’s crowd won't forget a memorable show like this, there is also another certainty that emerged from this incredible performance, which is that Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse have done it again! New album, new tour, same class. What a band.
Setlist:
Trouble Is Coming
Thrill Me
Gris Gris
Middle Of The Night
Sad When I'm Dancing
Bungalow Paradise
Penny Paid Rockstar
The Runaway
Don't Let Go
Louisiana Good Ride
I Told My Baby
Harder To Breathe
Texas Hold 'em (Beyonce' cover)
Mama Cray
Baby Baby
Wild Woman
Satisfy Your Queen
Fill Me Up
Oh Yeah!
What's My Name
Encores:
When My Baby Was Rich
Don't Let The Bastards Drag You Down
20th Century Boy (T-Rex cover)
Band:
Greta Valenti - Vocals, Tambourine
Robin Davey - Acoustic and Electric Guitars
Tom Rasulo - Drums
Stephen Mildwater - Bass Guitar
Sam Robertson - Piano, Accordion
