Photo credit: Blaine Schultz
Otis Taylor and the Psychedelic Banjo Posse performs on the Johnson Controls World Stage on Wednesday, June 26, the opening day of Summerfest 2019.
Minutes after Otis Taylor’s set, throngs gathered at the lakefront to view Summerfest‘s Big Bang fireworks show. What they didn’t realize was that for the previous 90 minutes Taylor and his seven-piece Psychedelic Banjo Posse lit up the Johnson Controls World Stage with fireworks of their own.
Flanked by his daughter Cassie and Mato Nanji (from the band Indigenous), the trio of banjoists quickly moved into Taylor’s redefinition of the instrument usually tied to Bluegrass music. He invited the audience in on the first number requesting them to jump.
Throughout the concert the band dug deep into hypnotic trance grooves echoing John Lee Hooker’s minimalist stomp as well as Nanji’s Hendrix-inspired solos. Humidity took its toll and when there was a fair amount of tuning happening among the banjoists cellist Beth Rosbach stepped in to segue the next song.
The band’s tour de force “Hey Joe Opus/Red Meat”, found the murder-ballad-turned-garage-rocker building powerful dynamics as Cassie switched the lyrics’ gender and took over on wailing vocals. Nanji’s liberal use of echo drove the song into space jam territory. Another Rosbach instrumental led into the powerful “Just Live Your Life”.
Taylor’s music is not for the faint of heart. It was easy to get the impression that at 90 minutes they were just getting warmed up. It was wishful thinking to hope for a second set.
Read more of our Summerfest coverage, including editor picks, concert previews, daily promotions and opinions here.
