GALACTIC

Galactic
The Roseland Theater
Portland, Oregon
February 27, 2010

Halloween weekend 1998, I found myself in Las Vegas surrounded by a bunch of freaky kids who traveled from all corners of the country to see Phish dress up in a musical costume. I can't remember who came up with the idea, but I flew down there with my buddies Jason and Gene from Portland and landed a room in the giant neon green MGM Grand.

On Halloween night, Phish dressed up in the Velvet Undeground's Loaded and the Oh Sweet Nuthin just about blew my mind (check it out). The show let out but the party wasn't over. We had tickets to this up and coming young funk band from New Orleans that was supposed to play until dawn. Galactic brought the heat, and since then I've been catching them off and on when I can, mostly down in New Orleans for Jazz Fest. 12 years later and they're still at it, having become a main stay in the New Orleans scene. Collaborating with the young guns and the old timers, they've bridged the generations and updated the cajun funk sound for the 21st century.

Check out some footage from last year.



Last weekend Galactic rolled through town on a tour that will pretty much land them in New Orleans just on time for Jazz Fest. Kristin and I decided at the last minute to check them out, and we're glad we did.

The show was good, but if you compare the first two clips you can tell they were feeling the crowd more in their hometown venue. We still enjoyed our little taste of Nawlins here in Portland, and we're looking forward to a little more cajun love later this Spring. Will you be there?