Joe Adler And The Rangers Of Danger, Abbie Morin, And Grundlefunk At Nectar’s January 28, 2015

Words by Tim Lewis.

I had a great time seeing music last night at Nectar’s. I got going a little early and settled in with a drink and some food. As usually happens, a few bites in, the band started playing. Last night Joe Adler & The Rangers Of Danger was Joe and Grundlefunk as the Rangers. They opened with a super tight and sweet version of Relax. I hung out at the bar eating as quickly as I could. For the second song, a huge sound, not unlike a spaceship landing, emanated from the stage and I ran up front as it coalesced into a staggering version of Brothers And sisters. With three horn players, I though they would take the saw part, like the Mammal Dap version of the Rangers did recently at Radio Bean, but no, guitarist Marshall Dominguez played a powerful and gorgeous lead, and that may have been the best version I’ve ever heard. At the beginning, the audience was me, Jeremy Gilchrist and a handful of others, but that did not stop the band from being epic. They lightened things up a little with Many A Girl, with fun vocals from Joe and Nicole D’Elisa , then launched back into the rock with a blistering version of The Mime. Dan Bishop’s bass playing was so melodic it gave the songs all the drive they needed. Alex Furdon’s drumming pushed them forward and Joe and the horn section filled them out and made them sound huge at times. Again, the guitar just ripped and I was ecstatic. After that, they eased back for a breezy version of Many Things & Many Scenes, then went back to epic rock territory for a killer version of Mirror Mirror. It went on forever, had a huge build and was just glorious. I live for shows like that. That was the end of the set and the band made way for Abbie Morin and her band. She took the stage with a microphone and an acoustic guitar. She had an electric lead guitar player, drums, keys and violin to fill out the sound. The songs were countryish popish fun and were nicely played and sung. One or two rocked a bit but most were a bit more mellow and dancey. A bunch of people showed up for the show, which is impressive late at night on a Wednesday in January, and people were having a great time. I really appreciated the music but after the glorious rock that came before, my time was limited. I hung out for several songs, but when my drink ended, so did I. She was fun, and I’m sure Grundlefunk’s set that followed would keep the party going, but I was pleasantly rocked out and headed for home.

This post was originally published by Tim Lewis at his personal blog, https://timstriangletribune.wordpress.com.