When āāTarriona “Tank” Ball joined the rest of her band on Saturday night at The Commonwealth Room (Jan. 18, 2025) in Salt Lake anticipation far outweighed expectation, or maybe switch those around? Either way, the crowd automatically erupted without her so much as offering a word.
That’ll happen. The more the band gets noticed, the more the accolades get stacked up. It should be common knowledge that the New Orleans natives took the grand prize for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series not so many years ago. This year, they already received a Grammy nod for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for their latest mind rattler of a creation, aptly titled The Heart, The Mind, The Soul. Early prediction? They’ll snag it.
As a live experience, it’s hard to describe how magnetic Tank is, but Iāll try. Keeping my eyes off all she said and sang Saturday night was hard to do. While her small touring band of a couple of keyboardists, a drummer, a bassist, and a backup vocalist aptly created the needed-and-appreciated warm club vibe (all wispy smoke and purple lights), she spilled her stories. Sometimes it was hard to keep up with all she said; it was easily one of the most verbose shows I’ve seen. My wide-eyed brother leaned over mid-show and said, “So many words.” There were no cue cards, no lyrical cheat sheets. A mental note was made to circle back and pour over the themes later. This was a time to move, absorb and feel.
After all, Tank and the Bangas was giving us jazz. There was subtle rap. It was next-level show-woman-ship, a poetry reading made sexier that you could move and snap fingers in appreciation throughout. And while there is an often incessant urge to find a place for sounds and sights you’re seeing live for the first timeāthe politicizing of Gil-Scott Heron, the flow of Lauryn Hill, the geniuses of today propped up by those giants whoāve come beforeāit’s best to just let this band be it’s own. No need for comparisons. What they’re doing needs to continue forever and ever, and we will accept all of it gladly and a little greedily.
Photos by Stephen Speckman @saspeckman on Instagram.
no images were found
