The Fritz: As Good As It Gets. Period.
“Best” is a subjective term.
There is no “better” band on the planet than The Fritz.
CHANGE MY MIND.
(Don’t waste your breath.)
That is the post I made after the first set Thursday night (April 5th) at Dunedin Brewery (I composed it after eight minutes of “Voices” but waited until the end of the set to post).
Mind completely blown.
The Fritz hit the stage just before 8:30 and kept us captivated until after midnight (with a short set break in the middle). “Voices” (from first album Bootstrap) was brilliant, Jamar Woods in total command from his keyboard control module. Also this: there is no “better” vocalist on the planet than Woods. Nor more charismatic. He is the consummate showman.
In the intimate setting of the Dunedin Brewery, you can catch every nuance, every nodding glance, every note. Sound engineer Chris Fama had everyone totally dialed in Thursday, balance absolutely perfect. Jake O’Connor’s bass, Mikey Spice’s timbales — everything was popping.
Woods worked out on synths on “Anything Else,” which preceded “Take Me to the River;” this was by far the most uptempo version I’ve ever heard, so joyous. Jamie Hendrickson had the first of a dozen or so jaw-dropping solos. This was testifying at its finest.
By my count, The Fritz have a bunch of songs not on either of their two studio releases (Jonesing for a new album!). “Too Late” is one of those, with the refrain “Things are getting better.” Woods introduced on organ, and Mikey Spice and Woods were both featured. Another one is “Musicology,” which has a great Meters-like cadence and a killer mid tempo jam. Everybody was on fire. Mike Tillis (drums) and O’Connor were lit up all night long.
“Fact or Fiction” was more WOW, followed by two of the band’s signature tunes. “Stuck in Between,” first track on 2017’s Natural Mind, began with spacey synths. Woods the vocalist was stunning, and Hendrickson was off the charts. His solo brought up the tears of joy that had been welling during the set, and I had the pleasure of sharing a booth with his parents (from Cape Coral).
https://www.facebook.com/jim.hendrickson.98/videos/10209245918465436/
Then Woods began having fun, calling tunes, playing “Tiny Dancer” and more, before the jam drifted into “Another Way,” outrageous funk. And this song, perhaps more than other, highlights Hendrickson’s guitar work. He is a master of the James Brown funky guitar (think “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”).
Set break allowed everyone to settle down — briefly. Set two cranked up with a really jazzy intro to “Oppenheim,” Woods on electric piano, then blew up into wailing rock. And we thought set one was the fire! “What She Please” featured a fabulous exchange between O’Connor on bass and Hendrickson on guitar, Woods then joining the conversation. He then twisted the jam into a wicked instrumental version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” on synths. The atmosphere was positively electric!The quintet has a pair of shows coming up at the end of May called The Fritz Presents: King of Pop Meets the Purple One.
At set break, Hendrickson said they were going to test out a couple. We were graced with an excellent “Black or White” that worked itself into a monster “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough,” with Woods’ synths handling the vocal part. There was a fabulous percussion battle of the Mikes, Spice on congas, timbales, cowbell and more, Tillis on kit. And eventually that morphed back into “Black or White.” YES, PLEASE.
Now my notes don’t precisely line up with their setlist, or else there was another percussion outbreak during “Get It Together.” This whole jam was so tight that I commented to friends there: “Go to Wikipedia, look up ‘the shit,’ and click on the audio track. THAT’S what’s playing.” There were no disagreements. Woods also had a great organ solo. We were creeping closer to the bewitching hour (music normally stops at midnight weekdays) when the band offered up a great “Undertow > Casual Mistakes” medley.
https://www.facebook.com/jim.hendrickson.98/videos/10209246418277931/
And then. And then. And then. Classically trained Woods had already teased “Fur Elise” earlier in the set, but now here was a full-frontal version, absolutely gorgeous, and it began to get a bit more funky… and a bit more funky… and then… it gradually turned into… “Life During Wartime!” I had opined two weeks back that, when doing a cover tune, you could seek precision or improvise, dancing around the edges. Row Jomah’s superb Talking Heads tribute appropriately chose precision.
I have heard dozens of bands cover “Life During Wartime,” but I’ve never heard it so magically transformed as what The Fritz did to it. The crowd was in near-pandemonium mode. There were numbers teases in there; somebody heard “Eleanor Rigby,” I heard Zappa, and Woods acknowledged something else altogether (which I didn’t write down). No matter. Incredible.
There was a nice “Superstitious” encore to shut down night one of The Fritz at Dunedin Brewery, but nothing, and I mean nothing, was going to top “Life During Wartime.” Woods’ brother sat in on drum kit for the finale.
The first set of this evening’s show should be a blast. Hendrickson reminded us several times to go to the merch table to write down requests for Friday’s first set. Pretty sure he asked for Hanson requests and the like, but I’ll wager it will be awesome.
Saturday The Fritz heads to Okaloosa RevFest as headliners. That will be a blast.
[FRIDAY ONE: Voices, Anything Else, Take Me to the River, Too Late, Musicology, Fact or Fiction, Stuck in Between, Another Way; TWO: Oppenheim, What She Please, Black or White > Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough > Black or White, Get It Together, Undertow, Casual Mistakes, Fur Elise > Life During Wartime; E: Superstitious]
Videos courtesy of Jim Hendrickson! And my apology for the mystery spaces that are appearing uninvited.
The Fritz on Tour!
04/05 Dunedin Brewery | Dunedin FL
04/06 Dunedin Brewery | Dunedin FL
04/07 Okaloosa RevFest | Fort Walton Beach FL
04/14 Octave | Covington KY w/ Backup Planet
04/20 Brooklyn Bowl | New York NY w/ Turkuaz
04/22 Sweetwater 420 Festival | Atlanta GA
05/01 The Blind Tiger | Greensboro NC w/ TAUK
05/02 Visulite Theatre | Charlotte NC w/ TAUK
05/03 Shaka’s Live | Virginia Beach VA w/ TAUK
05/04-05/06 Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival | Pittsboro NC
05/19 Domefest | Fort Royale Farm | Bedford PA
05/31-06/03 Mountain Music Festival | Minden WV
06/06 Larimer Lounge | Denver CO
06/07 The Lazy Dog | Boulder CO
06/08 Lander Brewfest | Lander WY
08/17 North Lexington Avenue | Asheville
The Fritz Presents: The King of Pop Meets the Purple One
05/25 Charleston Pour House | Charleston SC
05/26 Salvage Station | Asheville NC
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