Caravan Palace Live at Irving Plaza
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In 2015, one writer at Thump ran an article calling electro swing “the worst genre of music, ever.” On July 7 at NYC’s Irving Plaza, Caravan Palace made a winning rebuttal with their electric, swinging, brilliant performance.
Opener Ursula 1000 was warmly welcomed by his hometown. The audience bumped to an impressive spread of styles for one DJ. One second he’s at a bullfight, the next second he’s at Miami beach, the next second it’s a lounge scene from a spy movie. And the set still somehow felt balanced, every genre getting its deserved time in the spotlight.
Caravan Palace entered the stage one by one, launching into an uncharacteristically down-tempo, dub-ish number called “Comics.” Lead singer Zoe Colotis’s rapping dexterity held up in live performance on “Lone Digger.”
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The surprising thing about Caravan Palace for me is that they are (for the most part) not using samples of pre-WWII pop music. They are creating and performing their own “vintage” arrangements, and it comes across as authentic as can be.
It takes a team of seven to pull of these arrangements in concert, everyone contributing equally to the energy and dexterity on stage. I was astounded by the weight of Camille Chapelière’s bari sax sound, the vaudeville dance sequences, and Hugues Payen’s skill at a violin with one hand and a piano with the other.
But what really points to how talented these guys are is the ease with which they combine electronic and acoustic instruments. This “electro swing” genre is new, but mostly Caravan Palace draw on the sounds and bravado of a jazz age that predates seemingly everyone in the crowd. This didn’t stop said crowd from bouncing and dancing through the night.
They had all the right clothes and instruments for a Wes Anderson soundtrack, but the band opts instead for something heavier and far more exciting. Closing the set with “Mighty,” Irving Plaza was certainly left in a jumping mood.
The group will be closing out their tour at Baie-Saint-Paul’s Le Festif! this Thursday through Sunday.
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