G.Love and Special Sauce Headline Tour – REVIEW

G. Love and Special Sauce came through Chicago to The Metro headlining their own tour with supporting act Scott H. Biram. You can check out our review after the break!

The streets of Wrigleyville were swarming with people celebrating St.Pattys day, and the 93XRT sponsored G.Love and Special Sauce show at the Metro was at the epicenter. The place was packed and the debauchery was in full swing as soon at the doors opened at 7PM.

When Scott H. Biram hit the stage, he was ready to join in on the festivities. Chicago has always been a haven for blues, and Biram acknowledged this to everyone by belting out “I know you’ll want some straight up blues” from his megaphone. He jumped right into a heavy night of those blues, mostly using a beat up-looking Gibson acoustic, a harmonica and a bass pedal to keep beat. The self-proclaimed “Dirty Old One Man Band” had some great drinking songs to accent the St.Patricks day atmosphere, like “Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue,” and “Just Another River,” the first song off his most recent album, Bad Ingredients. He may be a one man band, but Biram is no one trick pony. He weaved in some righteous yodeling over straight bluegrass picking, and did switched things up with a Black-Sabbath-esque/totally metal intro to one of his songs.

People went hogwild and green beads and things flew into the air as G.Love and Special Sauce came out, and the energetic tone was set for the night. Front man Garret Dutton, drummer Jeff Clemens, and stand-up bassist Tim Shanko were obviously pumped about their final show of the tour, cheering drinks and high-fiving everyone they could reach.

Despite being known for their hip/hop bluesy tunes, they took songs like “Peace, Love and Happiness” and jammed out in an undeniably chill fashion. The guys still stuck to their hip/hop roots and G.Love spit some awesome freestyle rap improve in place of quite a few of his regular verses while Shanko and Clemens busted out some funky bass and drums to match.  Shanko rocking the stand-up bass had to be my highlight of the night, as well. He was spinning the thing around in his hands, adding a layer of jazzy goodness to every tune. Of course, the night wouldn’t have been complete without the old hit “Cold Beverages,” which got the mostly drunken crowd singing right along. The singing didn’t stop either, especially when G.Love and the boys kept the green motif going with their song “Who’s Got the Weed.” Naturally, the scent of celebration was thick during that one, and a few people got pulled out for smoking what the song is praising. Finally, the band brought it all out with the classic “Baby’s Got Sauce,” not without reprising the chorus a few times so the folks could shout it out along with them. As the show ended, the Metro poured out the jovial masses into the still busy streets of Chicago to continue a night of reveling.

Information about the review…
Tour: G.Love and Special Sauce Headline Tour
Bands: G.Love and Special Sauce, Scott H. Biram
Reviewer: Eric Witt
Date: March 17, 2012
Venue: The Metro in Chicago, IL