Music

“It’s always better live,” purred Con Brio frontman Ziek McCarter from the stage at The State Room on Thursday night. And while I’d argue that in the age of auto-tune and lip-synching that’s not always true, in the case of Con Brio, he’s exactly right. I’d heard legend of the band’s electric performances—like their set at Austin City Limits that set the internet on fire and locally, their opening set for Grace Potter at Red Butte just a month ago—but this was my first time seeing them.

Wow.

McCarter came onto the stage after the rest of his band had assembled there and as the six of them played intro music. And as he approached the microphone, onto which a scarf was tied—hello, Steven Tyler—it was clear that he was a force of nature. He wore satin pants, a jaunty fedora with a feather sticking out top and a three-quarter sleeved sequined jacket that looked like something Betty White may have worn to an awards show in 1986. And somehow it worked.

And though Trumpeter Brendan Liu was charismatic in his own right, and sax player Marcus Stephens brought charm in his role on the stage, and though McCarter gave every man in his band their due at different points in the nearly two-hour set, none of them came close to matching the stage presence of the front-man. He belted out songs—sometimes in falsetto—while also strutting around the stage, shaking his behind, doing the splits, and gyrating his hips in a way that made this middle-aged woman exhausted just watching.

Indeed, the young man with the golden voice seems to have harnessed his sexuality. At one point he told the crowd about a slower jam, “Let it percolate. Some things take time. We call that foreplay.” Although, he also told a pointless story about seeing a dog at a hotel and told the crowd that he knew Mercury was retrograde (ed note: it is not.).

Con Brio blew through soulful song after soulful, funky, R&B  song, some of their own and some covers, with enthusiasm and boundless energy without hardly taking a break to breathe—showing that they are an incredible band with an extraordinary lead singer. And though thier gig at The State Room did not sell out this time, it’s clear that they’ll be outgrowing the venue very, very soon—because, with Con Brio, it’s definitely better live.

Fun fact: Con Brio is a musical direction that means “with spirit” or “with vigor.”

Another fun fact: Con Brio is a musical group playing The State Room on Thursday night.

These two things are not unrelated.

Photo by Amy Price

Young and with relentless energy, Con Brio is a soul-funk-R&B band that answers the question you never asked about what would happen if someone combined James Brown, Michael Jackson and Prince (may they rest in peace).

After taking Austin City Limits by storm last year and generating headlines like, “The Best New Live Band In America?” and “Soulful Powerhouse Con Brio Proves ACL’s Value.” Whoa, right? No pressure, guys.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. Frontman Ziek McCarter, an aerobic force on stage, lost his father in 2011 at the hands of a police officer in East Texas. And as a result the band’s debut album Paradise, which they started recording right after McCarter had a vision of his father, has a social conscious—especially  “Brave and Free,” which name drops Dr. King and Travon Martin in its opening lines. It should be #blacklivesmatter’s theme song.

Thursday September 22, doors at 7 and the music starts at 8, Morgan Whitney Opens. Tickets still available here.

NEEDTOBREATHE (all caps, much to this editor’s chagrin) will breathe some Christian-rock tunes into Red Butte Garden on Tuesday night with their TOUR DE COMPADRES (again with the caps, guys? Seriously?) tour. And, if you don’t have tickets to the remaining three shows at Red Butte, this is your last chance before the official end of summer—the day Red Butte closes its doors for the year—because it’s the only show for which tickets are still available.

NEEDTOBREATHE (ugh) will be joined on the 53-city tour by friends and fellow Christian-rockers (compadres, get it?)  Mat Kearney, John Mark McMillan and Welshy Arms. And in a move that can only be described as marketing genius, the entire tour is sponsored by… wait for it… Cracker Barrel. Plus, in a clear sign of knowing your audience, TOUR DE COMPADRES (this isn’t even cute anymore, guys) will wrap-up at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University—the birthplace of many Republican presidential campaigns and an accredited university at which creationism is taught as a biology course.

Tickets are still available here. Doors open at 5:30. The show starts at 6:30.

Utah and Huntsmans go together like piano concertos and Rachmaninoff. And on Tuesday we’ll get a little of all of the above when Mary Anne Huntsman, daughter of Jon and Mary Kaye, plays at the Utah Symphony’s Opening Fundraising Gala on Tuesday night at Abravenel Hall.

Opening USO’s 76^th season, Ms. Huntsman will be playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and, the ever-recognizable, Beethoven’s 5^th. Huntsman has told news outlets that she first heard the Rachmaninoff piece at Abravenel Hall as a seven year old and her mother promised to take her to Disney World if she learned how to play it. Two weeks later, she’d mastered the complicated piece. And the rest, as they say, is history.

The former Utah first daughter has gone on to play in music halls all over the world, everywhere from Carnegie Hall to China—where her father served an ambassadorship under President Obama before his run for President.

The Utah Symphony orchestra will be led by conductor Thierry Fischer and the entire concert will be played for 90 minutes without intermission.

The event is a fundraiser for the Utah Symphony, and tickets start at $21 and go all the way up to a VIP sponsorship experience of $10,000. There is room in nearly every budget to show support for the Utah Symphony. You can purchase tickets here.

Kacey Musgraves brought pure country to Red Butte on Thursday night.

Musgraves branded her latest tour the “Rhinestone Revue,” and the name sure fits. Her band sported cowboy hats and Mariachi suits with flashing lights on the shoulders. The Red Butte stage was decorated with neon cactus lights, pink frills and a disco ball.

Every song Musgraves sang was a hit with the audience. They knew the words, they danced, they ate it up. Musgraves sang “Biscuits” and “Silver Lining” with a backup bass, banjo and steel guitar that really added depth to the songs. And while we’re on the subject, Musgraves singing harmonies with her band is a beautiful and rare sound that makes me blush to think about my horrid attempts at duets with my radio.

The “Pageant Material” artist befriended the Utah audience by telling a story of when she came to the Beehive State in 8^th grade to perform in a Wild West show associated with the Winter Olympics.

“My friends asked me to go to the Dairy Keen, and I had no idea what the hell they were talking about,” Musgraves said. “It’s the Dairy Queen, y’all.”

Musgraves performed small town anthems like “Dime Store Cowgirl”, “Step Off” and “Mean” with the same passion and pure talent that her fans love. Her ballads are soulful and funny without being trite. They bleed pure country dancehall magic, which makes sense, because Musgraves lists her idols as Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell and Loretta Lynn.

On slow, sweet numbers like “Fine” and “Late to the Party,” Musgraves’ reminded me of Allison Krauss – her voice is almost an instrument unto itself. But she is very much her own artist, one who rocked a rhinestoned suit, picked on acoustic and electric guitars and said exactly what she thought. Case in point: she gave a shout-out to Sam Outlaw, who opened the show.

“I really love when people keep things country as s***,” Musgraves said. One of Outlaw’s songs was titled “Jesus take the Wheel… and Drive me to a Bar,” so I’d say that’s about as country as it gets.

She introduced the relatable “Family is Family” by saying, “I’ve got some freaks in my family, and this one goes out to all the freaks in yours.”

The East Texas native ditched the band for “Merry Go Round,” one of the songs that kicked off her career with its insightful social commentary about small town life.

One of the best surprises of the night was when Musgraves busted out her version of Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which, as it turns out, Musgraves wrote herself. No offense to Miss Lambert, the other East Texas queen, but I liked Musgraves’ version better (and the audience seemed to agree).

With her song “Good Ol’ Boys Club,” Musgraves used her music to stick it to her naysayers.

“I wanna do it myself, thank you,” Musgraves said.

Musgraves and her band really put on a show for “Follow Your Arrow,” the song that captured the nation’s attention back when it was released for her Grammy-winning album “Same Trailer, Different Park.”

Musgraves and her band closed things out with “These Boots were made for walking.”

And that’s just what they’ll do. Musgraves’ Rhinestone Revue was a classic country show.

Before Wednesday’s sold out Blondie show I had heard that some in the Red Butte concert series’ back office thought it might be one of the best this year.

It very well may have been especially if your markers include an audience heavy on the low back chairs that make the lawn seating more comfortable, who made no use of them once Debbie Harry and company took the stage.

From opening number “One Way or Another,” Harry, striking in two-tone blue and white, was animated and energetic from the moment she grabbed the mic. Her exuberance caught up to her a bit in “Rave” from the band’s 2014 release Ghosts of Download, when her vocals were heavily backed up by keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen.

She recovered quickly with “Hanging on the Telephone” and owned up to it before playing “Mile High” by asking, “There’s some altitude here right? I can’t breathe.”

If the altitude got to her early she recovered just as quickly. Her breathy falsetto and sultry rapping were flawless the rest of the night.

After again revving up the crowd with “Call Me,” the band played three more from recent releases, “What I heard,” “Euphoria” and “A Rose by Any Name,” all very electronic dance focused and probably the night’s best example of how the band’s abilities coupled and Harry’s voice were able to keep the crowd on their feet even during lesser known songs.

If Harry has a hard time remembering ” a lot of stuff” from the past as she admitted earlier in the evening it wasn’t apparent during her rap in the middle of “Rapture,” the first number one song in the united states to feature rapping. Harry strutted around the stage not missing a beat. It was also the song that featured the best solo of the night from guitarist, and Blondie co-founder, Chris Stein. Guitarist Tommy Kessler wailed on most of the other solos. The band’s other original member, drummer Clem Burke, and bassist Leigh Foxx, who joined the group when they re-formed in the mid-90s, kept the rhythm pounding.

“Rapture” bled into “Kiss” a tribute to the late, great Prince and then a cheeky version of the Beastie Boys “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party.)

It’s easy to forget while dancing to hits like “The Tide Is High” and “Heart of Glass” that Blondie are not just a group with a handful of pop hits (kudos to the teenagers who were up front in the dancing pit singing every word all night) but a seminal band that blended the dynamic influences of New York’s late 70s dance, rap and punk scene into new-wave gold.

Harry reminded the crowd that “Heart of Glass” is the back beat sample in Missy Elliott’s 2002 hit “Work It,” before an encore of a Misfits cover, “Hollywood Babylon,” and “Dreaming.”

Dreaming is free. Blondie is not, but the Red Butte crowd appeared to think they were worth every penny.

Opener Desi Valentine’s “Eyes on Me” the first number of the night did just that, commanding the crowds’ attention quickly and getting people on their feet early. In case you needed reminding, Valentine showed the British are still doing 60s soul as well as anyone. A point driven home by his cover of Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie.”