Funkyard Dealers and Soul Symmetry

Saturday 7th October, 2017
Rookies Sport Pub, Stevens Point, WI

I saw this poster and, having been impressed by Soul Symmetry out at the Yes!tival recently, decided to have a night out after a period of quiet insularity. The poster and name of the support band weren't too promising, but I was pleasantly surprised. Young whiteboy funk band? Yes, but a great one — big slabs of funky music, interwoven with psychedelic jams and nicely laid back. None of that Chilli Peppers in-yo'-face-ness. The Dealers and Soul Symmetry appear to both be part of a lively, cheerful friendship group in the area who came out to have a good time — mostly UWSP students and ex-students I would guess — so there was enough energetic interaction between musicians and audience to create an intimate jam-band-type experience. The colourful mandala drapes they put up behind the stage helped brighten up the rather sterile setting too — good effort.

It was a completely different demographic to the Yes!tival crowd (older hippies, average age mid-40s, kids and grandkids running around...) but Soul Symmetry were able to connect with this audience (for whom a lot of their influences have a completely different meaning) just as effectively, playing an extended version of the set I heard them play last time. Incredible chemistry between these players. I'd forgotten that they do reggae too (very well, not a watered-down version — their one reggae number was heavy). They could be an extremely competent dub/reggae band, pure blues-rock band, space-rock band or funk-rock band, but instead they're choosing to explore and fill in the spaces between these nodal points, in the American jam-band tradition. They served up a satisfying amalgam of Southern-boogie-psychedelic-funk vibes, mostly strong original material but also including covers of the Allmans Brothers' "Whipping Post" and (as an encore) "Statesboro Blues", Elmore James' (via SRV?) "The Sky is Crying" and a remarkably effective pairing of Pink Floyd's "Breathe" and "Time" which sent the crowd into ecstasy. They played one less-than-appealing slow smoochy pop-funk thing near the end of the set, but other than that I couldn't fault them. One glass of water, no conversations (it was too loud for that), hours of dancing, I walked off into the Central Wisconsin night with a big smile.