Événement

Andy Frasco & the U.N.

Averaging 250 shows per year, 10 countries, at least 10,000 hours playing music, countless satisfied fans, and about 1 million beers kicked, the past decade has been nothing short of an odyssey for Andy Frasco & The U.N.
In 2016, this wild musical journey culminated with a three-hour headlining set in front of 15,000 people at Jazz & Blues Festival in Bamberg, Germany. The evening marked a handful of firsts. It would be the first time the band performed its entire catalog during one show, and it would be recorded for their first-ever live CD/DVD2017s Songs from the Road: Live in Bamberg. In many ways, Andy had been working towards this evening since he quit his record label job at 19, bought a van with his remaining Bar Mitzvah money, hit the road, and never looked back
I always wanted to do a live album, he exclaims. I didnt want to play some cliché venue though. When I started booking shows for the band in Europe, Bamberg was actually the first place that threw us a bone. We decided to take over this town, throw a block party, showcase everything weve done, and see if anyone shows up. All of a sudden, the whole town is there. In this last decade, Ive played every dive bar you can imagine. It was like we finally manifested all of the dreams Ive had for my entire life.
Songs from the Road captures the magic inherent in an Andy Frasco show. Throughout the set, the chemistry between the musicians and sonic unpredictability power every second. Among many standouts, the group slowed down Main Squeeze from 2014s Half A Man into a sultry and seductive Soul Version highlighted by Andys bluesy delivery, hulking keys, and a virtuoso saxophone solo.
That was the first song I ever wrote as a kid, he recalls. It started as a slow ballad, but we sped it up over the years for festivals. We went back to the original incarnation here.
Elsewhere, the group locks into a show-stopping 20-minute jam during Struggle spiraling into drum and guitar battles. Meanwhile, Smoking Dope n Rock n Roll and Stop Fucking Around incite raucous and rowdy singalongs between crowd surfing to a barrel of wineyou have to see it to believe it. These moments hint at something much bigger for Andy though.