Who would have thunk that one of the best live shows I have ever been to would be on a Tuesday night in Asbury Park by a band that doesn’t have any vocals in their songs?

I’m not shitting you. Right up next to Chris Whitley at Joe’s Pub in 2002 (click here for that story), The Budos Band show at Asbury Park, NJ’s House of Independent was the embodiment of the power of music. I’ve never seen a crowd pounce and roll in unison for so long.  This was true “musical lightning in a bottle”. I can only image this is type of audience connection that the Ramones had with its early CBGB audiences. Raw musical honey beamed from the band to the crowd.

The Staten Island-based The Budos Band has been characterized on Wikipedia as “Doom Rock combined with Afro Funk”, but I would say that they are an evil horn-based soul band. Ever since my first taste of Budos at Mountain Jam 2015 (click here for that story) super late one evening, I have been meaning to catch them again. In 7 years I never got to a show and had to settle for listening to their studio stuff off Spotify. The music is good, but hasn’t touched me like that night live at Hunter Mountain.

So when I saw an early announcement for their August 2 show in Asbury Park, I quickly bought a handful of tickets and organized a few days of work and fun around that date. Boy did I pick a winner.

Walking out the venue  when the music ended with my buds, we were all wind whipped and speechless from the experience. To my surprise there wasn’t a single photo taken by the bunch… all of us were incredibly glued to the moment (for over 2 hours). These were the only images captured from our gang that night. This short video clip best represents the band. Muscle horns, crazy bongos and alien-like bass man…

At the end of the show, just as the band appeared to be ransacking the stage… I saw something I have never witnessed on stage!

The keyboard player ripped the organ off the stand and dragged it out front and pounded it like a madman while the band continued on. (see below)

There were many dynamics that contributed to the fun, but there is not a person that left that place who didn’t feel like they witnessed something special.

In addition to the double decker venue, one of the most funky components of the night was the audience. At times I felt transformed to inside a Berlin nightclub or thrown back in time to Warhol wannabees dressed for attention. I’ve never seen a bald muscle dude dancing at a rock show in a Soho sold dress. Now I have… The tall blonde bombshell German lady model followed by a puppy dog of a gent and a barrage of amateur paparazzi was a show in itself. Mixed in with blue collared Staten Islanders and vacationers that got too much sun and stumbled upon this show because both Wonder Bar and The Stone Pony were quiet… the audience was insanely diverse, yet boogied in unison. Musical magic indeed.

I’m curious now to see them again. They can’t be that good all the time… For now, I’m very satisfied to have once again captured musical lightning in a bottle and hold it tight for a few hours.