G Love and Special Sauce

G. Love & Special Sauce hit the stage of the HiFi Bar to a roaring welcome. On top of being a talented musician, G. Love is a showman. He commands attention and quickly developed a rapport with the crowd. Easily flipping styles between laid-back surf rock, alternative, New Orleans soul and more than a little bit of white boy rap, G.Love has concoted a very unique blend of musical influences, but it is one that works incredibly well.

Props must also go out to The Special Sauce band, consisting of Mark Boyce (keyboards) Timo Shanko (string bass, saxophone) and Jeffrey Clemens aka The Wizard (drums, vocals), for they provided some seriously funky beats, and each was given the opportunity at many different times throughout the performance to showcase their musical abilities.

About an hour into the show, G.Love and the band abruptly walked off stage, and I was curious as to the shortened running time, but my fears were unnecessary. For G.Love came straight back out for a solo, more intimate set, in which he performed four or five songs aided with nothing more than an acoustic guitar: a great moment. After which, he then got The Sauce back out on stage and they kicked things up a notch, taking the rest of the show to another level; highlights for me include Baby's Got Sauce, I-76, and This Ain't Living.

Perhaps one of the best parts of G.Love's performance style is the way he and The Special Sauce look like they're just having a great time performing the music they love, for they emit a fun, positive vibe when onstage, one that infected the eager crowd of the HiFi with big smiles, happy thoughts, and a twinkle in their eye- a condition to which I was not immune.

G. Love was all over the stage; rapping, playing the harmonica and guitar, slapping hands with fans, and winning the hearts of plenty of the ladies (and perhaps some men) in the crowd. G.Love looked like he was having the time of his life, and finished off a rocking set with the aptly- titled Peace, Love & Happiness.

Having played for nearly two hours, you'd be forgiven for thinking that was the end off the show. But for those in the audience, it was not enough. The crowd had not had enough sonic refreshment, and G.Love knew it; coming back out with The Sauce one last time in order to satisfy the thirsty crowd by finally capping off the night with an extended version of his 1994 hit Cold Beverage, complete with solos by each band member.

It's at this point that I must tip my metaphorical fedora to G.Love & The Special Sauce, for they truly did bring the party to the HiFi Bar, and delivered a great, fun night of music.

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