Review: Praise at the Chapel for G. Love and Special Sauce
G. Love and Special Sauce, the trio from Philadelphia known for their unique blend of grimy hip-hop laden blues, packed the Chapel Tuesday night for an intimate free concert.
At 6:30pm the line for the show already stretched down the street, as fans eagerly waited with hopes of getting in. The event was sponsored by Pandora and Norton, and initially tickets were granted via RSVP with limited tickets at the door.
Techies and fans of the band packed the modest Mission District venue, taking advantage of the open bar while others gathered around a live screen printing machine that churned out personalized G. Love poster.
Garret Dutton, better known as G. Love, drummer Jeffrey Clemens and upright bassist Jim Prescott promptly took the stage at 8pm for an hour-long set comprised of older songs and newer tracks from their latest release, Sugar.
Following a loose set list, G. Love and Special Sauce pumped out crowd pleasers like “Baby’s Got Sauce” from the 1994 self titled album, “Waiting” from 2004’s The Hustle and “Come Up Man,” full of slick slide guitars and raunchy blues scales. “Nite Life” featured G. Love’s harmonica skills from their new album. The band came out for two encores playing tracks “Mom’s a Surfer,” “Rhyme for the Summertime” and “Friday Night.”
G. Love and Special Sauce are no strangers to the Bay Area, having played shows of all sorts from intimate acoustic house concerts to higher profile gigs opening up for Jack Johnson.
The vibe for this show electric, welcoming back Jim Prescott for their latest album and tour after he left the band in 2009. Their humbleness and gratitude is indisputable, making every minute spent lingering in line worth it for their fans who have helped keep their musical journey going since 1993.
Photo courtesy of G. Love and Special Sauce.
