Come Back Alice | The 5 O’Clock Club 10.02.13

They say you should observe an animal in its native habitat to understand its true nature.  With that in mind, I ventured south to The 5 O’clock Club in Sarasota to get a glimpse of the Come Back Alice beast.

The Sarasota folks obviously already know what many others will discover in the coming months: Come Back Alice rocks the house.  Their house. The Ringside Café.  Skipper’s Smokehouse.  On to Hulaween, which should open the floodgates wide.  CBA again offered up a great mix of covers and originals (I like the originals even more than the great covers!).  And there were dancers and head-bobbers (guilty!) everywhere.  They have the place slammin’ on Wednesday nights.

There was yet another drummer (this time from Venezuela, maybe the same one I saw at Groovefest), but again the performance from the band was seamless.  Big Bad John Werner again anchored the festivities with his groove-infested bass, and it was all good.  I hope he is in for the duration.

If I had one minor complaint, and it is minor, given that I split before the last set, it is that Tony Tyler didn’t play the Hammond B-3 enough.  However, when he did, he got that beautiful rich B3 sound, and it highlighted a brilliant solo from Dani Jaye on guitar.  She is so infectious on violin that you sometimes forget that she is a truly excellent guitarist.  Tony ripped off numerous blistering solos throughout the evening as well.

The band’s onstage persona is likewise infectious.  It is simply impossible to ignore Dani’s wide smile while she is tearing it up – on violin and guitar.  Also impossible to ignore are the smiles, grins and pure joy exchanged by everyone in the band.

Great music.  Great presentation.  Fun and joy.  What’s not to love?

HOOPSTERS:  you have been warned!