Guavatron at The Floridian Social: 07.06.24
[We are indebted to Zach Buhler from Recommended Media LLC for his photographs.]
[Thanks to James Ketch for his videos of “Turtle Dream.”]
Guavatron had a two-night run with The Heavy Pets, first on home turf Friday, July 5 at The Citadel in Miami before heading to St. Petersburg for night two at The Floridian Social Club. They blew out a superb 90-minute set with two recent setlist additions and several real favorites.
The quartet opened with “Turtle Dream,” the oldest song on the setlist; it is also featured on their excellent studio album Momentous (2022). All of the parts meshed instantly, and they were off to the races. It is worth repeating again that drummer Corey Ricardy has been key to the advancements the band has made over the past 13 months, and that was in evidence once again.
“Turtle Dream” is a launching pad for some of Guavatron’s very best trance-dance grooves, and this version was brilliant. Roddy Hansen gave all of his keyboards a spin, thick on the synths, and Casey Luden crushed the space bass — so good! Adonis Guava’s guitar was too low in the mix initially, but that got remedied in short order.
“Reflections” is a new composition featuring Adonis on vocals with backing from Luden. This one has an easy tempo and mellow groove that give way to a fine guitar solo. The quartet followed that up with “GRIT,” a huge metallic prog rock beast that usually clocks in plus or minus 20 minutes. This version was superb, and in the middle they stuffed a gorgeous version of “Planets.” That’s a new tune from Ricardy, very subdued, very mellow, before they shot back into “GRIT” for closure.
Done? Absolutely not. They invited two Heavy Pets to join them for another killer new-is tune, “Help (I’m Stuck in the Fuselage).” Guitarist Mike Garulli and keyboard wizard Jim Wuest helped send this tune to the stratosphere.
[We were unable to stay for The Heavy Pets’ set.]
[07.06.24: Turtle Dream, Reflection, GRIT > Planets > GRIT, Help (I’m Stuck in the Fuselage)*]
