Live Concert Photography: The Black Pumas with Ikebe Shakedown at Brooklyn Bowl 9/20/19

Live Concert Photography: The Black Pumas with Ikebe Shakedown at Brooklyn Bowl 9/20/19

Throughout the course of the past year, I’ve written quite a bit about the acclaimed and rapidly rising Austin, TX-based soul act, Black Pumas. And as you may recall, the act which is led by Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter and guitarist Adrian Quesada and 27 year old singer/songwriter Eric Burton can trace its origins to when Burton, a popular street performer in his native Los Angeles busked his way across country to Austin, where he met Quesada.

Along with an insanely talented cast of collaborators, the act released their self-titled, full-length debut earlier this year, and since the album’s release, the members of Black Pumas have been on a relentless touring schedule that included three separate stops to New York alone: The Knitting Factory, back in May; Mercury Lounge, back in July; and Brooklyn Bowl back in September. Much of this has been as a result of the success of album single “Colors,” which exploded nationally, as a live version of the song has amassed over 4 million YouTube views — and since then, the song has become the most added song to Adult Album Alternative (AAA) radio.

As you can imagine, things are very busy in the JOVM world. I’m off to Montreal for the M for Montreal Festival in a few days and I’m trying to catch up on every thing while gearing up to cover the festival. Back in September I caught the JOVM mainstays at Brooklyn Bowl. Brooklyn-based Afrobeat act Ikebe Shakedown opened.

Adding to a breakthrough year, the band made their national television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Since their Kimmel appearance, the band has been on the road, playing in successively larger rooms. As of this writing, the band is currently touring across the European Union — but they’ll return to the States to close out the year. They begin 2020 with stops in Houston and Dallas before returning to Europe to start off the year in earnest. Check out the tour dates below. And if Black Pumas are stopping in your time, catch them because they’re a must see.

TOUR DATES:

11/16 – Rotterdam, NL – BIRDfest

11/17 – Tourcoing, FR – Le Grand Mix

11/19 – Bristol, UK – The Louisiana (SOLD OUT)

11/20 – London, UK – Dingwalls (SOLD OUT)

11/21 – Manchester, UK – YES (The Pink Room) (SOLD OUT)

11/22 – Glasgow, UK – Audio Glasgow (SOLD OUT)

11/23 – Dublin, IE – The Grand Social (SOLD OUT)

11/30 – Paper Tiger – San Antonio, TX

12/14 – Lightning 100 Festivus – Nashville, TN

1/10 – The Kessler Theater – Dallas, TX

1/31 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX

2/5 – Dublin, IE – The Academy

2/6 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy 3

2/7 – London, UK – Islington Assembly Hall

2/8 – Paris, FR – Alhambra

2/10 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso

2/11 – Groningen, NL – De Oosterport

2/12 – Eindhoven, NL – Effenaar

2/14 – Antwerp, BE – Trix

2/15 – Heidelberg, DE – Karlstorbahnoff

2/16 – Cologne, DE – Gloria-Theater

2/18 – Hamburg, DE – Uebel & Gefahrlich

2/19 – Berlin, DE – Metropol

2/21 – Vienna, AU – Grelle Forelle

2/22 – Zurich, CH – Mascotte

Founded over a decade ago, the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat act Ikebe Shakedown — Barnaby Alter (drums), Dave Bourla (percussion), Mike Buckley (tenor/baritone sax), Vince Chiarito (bass), Jason Colby (trumpet), Nadav Niremberg (trombone) and Robin Schmidt (guitar) — have developed a reputation both locally and nationally for a funky groove-based sound that draws from 70s psychedelic soul, classic Afrobeat and cinematic Western soundtracks and for an energetic live show.

Recorded by the band’s Vince Chiarito at Hive Mind Recording, a studio built from the ground up and co-owned by the band’s Chiarito and Mike Buckley, the band’s latest effort Kings Left Behind was released by Colemine Records earlier this year. Interestingly, the album is the first album in which the entire band wrote material together — and as a result, each instrument and element are allowed to shine while the band further experiments and expands upon their take on what they’ve dubbed “instrumental soul.”

As I mentioned earlier, the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat act opened the night with an energetic set primarily centered around their latest album.