Dancing in the Moonlight: Guavatron and The Reality at Dunedin Brewery
Every time Guavatron and The Reality play a show together, things just get sorta bonkers. The two bands were completing a three-night run with a show at Dunedin Brewery (August 24th), and it was another glorious collaboration between the West Palm Beach jamsters and Tampa funksters. And speaking of collaborations, on the one night they did have off, the two bands pooled talents to write a tune they debuted for us.
Guavatron led off this evening with a disco-funky tune called “Here to Stay” with vocals by Adonis Guava. Then things got really, really real. The quartet dug immediately into their deep jam groove for a stunning medley that began with “Awake.” From the there, the band shimmied and shook, delivering glorious jamtronic trance-dance with “Spring Roll,” segueing into “Day Man” and back to “Spring Roll.” The vocal portion featured both Guava and drummer Casey Luden. Conor Crookham was a monster on bass, laying down the groove on top of Luden’s superb beat. Roddy Hansen used many of his keyboard grooves during the jam.
How do you follow a 34-minute killer jam? With a 35-minute even more killer jam, of course! That would be “Ray Gun.” This was brilliant. Along the way, Guava worked in a quote from The Reality’s “All Your Time” and a “That’s It for the Other One” tease as well. Probably more. I was in orbit. There is a reason these guys are on the top of my fav list.
Then it was Reality time. We heard their new tune “Wanna See You Dance” and “Don’t Care Anymore,” the latter with bassist Caleb Bone, whose magnificent voice usually does backing vocals, singing lead and Dan Jones playing trombone and guitar.
Guava then guested on “Fat Fanny pack,” taking a solo, then Bone on bass, Brian BA Jones on drums, and Dan on trombone, with Dan’s final “True story, folks.” The band used the Final Countdown theme as intro to “She’s So High.” If you want to fill the dance floor with happy faces, try “Dancing in the Moonlight.” That was a blast. Guitarist Josh Haley, who often plays with the band, sat in on “All My Time” and “Sweet Tooth,” two of the band’s very best songs. Josh Kim on synths and keyboards really stood out. The Reality threw in two great covers: “Bad for You” by Pigeons Playing Ping Pong and “Do Ya” by Dumpstaphunk.
After a brief timeout, they returned, and there were lots of guys on stage for the debut of their collaboration, “Wait for This.” We’ll call this REALATRON! During the jam, Crookham handed the bass to Bone, and Josh Kim took the keyboard bench from Hansen. Luden yielded to BA, and Josh Haley was in the mix. What a kick.
Guavatron re-took the stage and laid down a great vamp for Jon Ditty to rap over; he gave us “Braggadoccio.” Then Guavatron sent us on another magical jamtronic excursion. Eventually, The Reality re-re-took the stage as before, redirecting the funky jam into jammed-out funk that included “Get Down Tonight,” “Shake Your Booty,” and “Give Up the Funk.”
I’m still in orbit.
[GUAVATRON: Here to Stay, Awake > Spring Roll > Day Man > Spring Roll, Ray Gun]
[THE REALITY: Wanna See You Dance, Don’t Care Anymore, Fat Fanny Pack, Final Countdown intro > She’s So High, Medium Tempo, Dancing in the Moonlight, All My Time, Sweet Tooth, Bad for You, Set Her Free, Do Ya, Dancin’ in D]
