George Porter Jr

The Meters’ bassist and singer hit town with his long-term band The Runnin’ Pardners – a super-tight four-piece that grabbed you by the collar and grooved you from beginning to end with an onslaught of fatback drums, wah-wah guitar and superb Hammond organ. A Deep South ‘grease’ section let the players cut loose with ample solo space to show their skills on numbers including New Orleans staple ‘Iko Iko’. After 90 minutes of locked-in heavy funk, they left us on a high with audience request ‘Just Kissed My Baby’ segueing seamlessly into the timeless ‘Cissy Strut’. A super-cool class act.

Concorde 2, 27 March 2014

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