Karen Ponzio Photos
Shamarr Allen
Can you start celebrating the weekend on a Tuesday? You could if you were at Cafe Nine last night. Two acts got the crowd energized enough to make it seem as if it were much later in the week than it actually was, with music that made you move.
“It’s nice to see all of you close and far,” said chad browne-springer of Dreamvoid, who then introduced bandmate DJ Expired Mocha to the crowd and added that Mocha would be playing some stuff he had been working on. Mocha added, “I don’t have a track list. I’m going to be freestyling this whole thing,” and launched into a short set of hard thumping beats fit for the wildest dance party. The crowd bopped along and browne-springer smiled and filmed him, eventually joining him back onstage to add their own sounds to the mix.
Dreamvoid
The band then added two songs from their lyrically lush and highly danceable album Press Play, “social anxieties in the new world” and “everything u need & more,” encouraging the crowd between songs to check out the record on Spotify and the band on social media. “That’s Dreamvoid, one word,” said browne-springer. “if you choose two words you get a very different band.”
Browne-springer also added something they said they had been working on — a song called “The Silent Treatment,” with the lyrics “you don’t wanna talk it out, all you know is walk away” — before heading back to the duo’s recent album for “some good social commentary,” with the song “Vaccine.” They then introduced “a special one … that’s Mocha’s juice,” called “$timmy,” which sounded as fresh and funky as when it first came out back in April of this year, even though the anticipation of the stimulus it was referring to (and maybe the money itself) is long gone.
The crowd, though on the smaller side, grew louder with their appreciation and interaction as the set went on. When browne-springer told them to check out their video for the song “Electric Bird” on their YouTube channel, Mocha added “subscribe and I’ll give you a bag of Doritos.”
“Sweet Chili?” someone yelled, which garnered laughs.
“Anything,” Mocha responded.
Before ending the set with a looped cover of Prince’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” browne-springer added the songs “Sketchy Girl” — “it’s about a sketchy girl,” they said — and “The Boy Wonder,” a song with thoughtful lyrics such as “I don’t wanna break it to you that it’s not the end of the world, even when the weight of existence falls on you,” as well as adrenaline-pumping beats.
“Someday I’m gonna get that one in a superhero movie,” browne-springer said.
Next to the stage was New Orleans’s own Shamarr Allen on vocals and trumpet, backed by a three-piece band that was already rocking when he jumped on stage and asked the crowd repeatedly “how you doing?” until he got a more enthusiastic response. Allen set the tone for the rest of the hard, driving, and super fun set, as he continually encouraged the crowd to participate, telling everyone that they played the same for any crowd no matter the size and “we want the same energy from y’all.” From extended solos from each musician to singalongs and clap-alongs, Allen and crew extracted more and more interaction from the audience as the night went on — even telling them when they sounded “horrible,” getting laughs and eliciting more enthusiasm.
A sexy trumpet heavy version of the Beatles song “Come Together” got people singing. At the end Allen held a note so long that an audience member ran up and tried to fan him. Before a cover of The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back,” he told the audience “everybody has to dance. You look too comfortable.” They obliged. The covers continued with one Allen introduced by saying “I guarantee you never heard a trumpet player play this but me or your money back.” That song ended up being Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” which even had a bit of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner” mixed in. The responses got louder and more appreciative with each selection and each band member got their own love at each and every turn.
The night ended with “The Weekend Dance” from the 2018 album True Orleans, and not only did Allen have the crowd signing along with this one, but he also called out several audience members individually to get up and dance their own dance right near their seats in response. Not one refused, and by the time the close to 15-minute number was over, the crowd was sufficiently ready for the weekend. Even if it was still three days away.