Page 40 - ION Indie Magazine MayJune 2018 Issue

At a recent show outside Washington D.C. in February, an audience member talked about how it was their
first Snarky Puppy concert and how they came to be a fan. Someone passed along a link to a video and ever
since, she and her roommate made it a regular past-time to pull up YouTube in their living room and spend
hours watching Snarky Puppy videos. That night, at the Fillmore in Silver Spring MD, the sold-out room was
filled to excess with eager fans. I wondered about the room capacity because there was barely room to
breathe, but no one was complaining and the only thing on fire was the band. Often at Snarky Puppy shows
the crowd shouts out song titles from their vast catalog and you will even catch a portion of them singing
along with the band. Did I mention it’s all instrumental? On this night most of the selections were from their
latest album, the Grammy-winning “Culcha Vulcha.” This album was a departure from many

others, being strictly a studio effort with no video or live audience, which provided Snarky
Puppy the opportunity to develop ideas in a very different way. In person, each track
delivers even more than on record, like most of their music. The audience didn’t seem to
mind that some of their older favorites weren’t heard, as the place was electrified and
bouncing to every beat.