Cory Wong must be an alien. Or at least superhuman. Since 2016 he has released fourteen studio albums and seven live albums. And that’s just his solo stuff. He also plays guitar for The Fearless Flyers and Vulfpeck. The latter even has a song named “Cory Wong. Oh, he also hosts a YouTube variety show and a podcast. I’m not sure how he finds the time for all of this and still be able to tour.
The Fillmore in Philadelphia was the 8th stop on the East Coast leg of the Power Station tour and also the 8th sellout. The 2,500 capacity room was packed to the gills before the 12 musicians stepped on stage barely glowing with lambent blue light and Shaggy’s “Boombastic” playing through the house speakers. When the lights came on, Wong was center-stage in his signature white hi-top Adidas, white pants blue striped shirt and a blue varsity jacket that the rest of the band also wore.
The band went directly into “Assassin” followed by “Radio Shack” and “Brooklyn Bop.” Both of which haven’t been played yet on this tour. Next was a new song with the working title “Flamingo.” Next up was the 2019 song “Home,” before bringing up supporting act Trousdale for the next two songs.
After Trousdale’s songs, Cory brought up one of his “other favorite artists,” Sammy Rae for a groovy cover of Steely Dan’s “Peg” which ended with an “Aja” outro. Sammy left the stage and Cory took a seat on a stool. “What we get to do is very fun. What we get to do for our job, for our livelihood, for our passion is very fun. There are very few days in the year that feel like work. The handful of them that do feel like work, there’s one thing they have one thing in common. And that is airports and getting onto the airplane.” Cory goes on to say that for this tour they were going to make it easier on themselves and only bring instruments that could be carried onto an airplane. One by one he brought bandmates on stage with the smallest instruments they could find from Sweetwater.
After playing two songs in what they called the “Carry On” set, the band members took their normal places and picked up regular sized instruments. Cory then says to the audience, “Please welcome to the stage, Victor Wooten.” Wong is arguably the best rhythm guitar player on Earth. Watching his right hand strum his Statocaster, it looks like he is feverishly trying to pack a can of chewing tobacco. Nothing moves but his rubbery right wrist. Wooten is the best bass player on Earth. He coaxes sounds out of his bass guitar that other bass players think are impossible. Seeing these two play off of each other was a complete honor.
Wong is not only an incredible guitar player, composer, and arranger, but he also knows how to bring together the best funk musicians around. He also gives these musicians the freedom to show off how good they really are. Drummer Petar Janic demonstrated all night that he doesn’t care at all how you are supposed to play the drums. The pocket he was in drove the rest of the band and he was clearly having a blast. Kenni Holman ripped solos on his alto sax and at times looked like his eyes might pop out of his head at any moment. None more impressive than on “Turbo.”
The set ended with a cover of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones’ “Stomping Grounds.” The band briefly left the stage before coming back out for a post-set ‘press conference’ that resembled what you would see after a professional sports game. Cory acted as the head coach and said he was there to take responsibility for everything that happened on stage. He then turned to the audience for questions. The last question of the night was from a young man in a white jacket who asked if he could come on stage and play “Dean Town” with them. Cory says, “On what instrument?”
Motioning with two fingers on his right hand the audience member yells, “Bass!”
Hesitating for a moment, Cory replies. “Let’s rock!”
The guy comes up on stage and is standing next to Victor F*@CKING Wooten and actually kills it!
Cory Wong and the rest of his band are breathing new life into instrumental funk music and I couldn’t be more grateful to see them perform live. I hope that anyone reading this has the opportunity to see them soon.
If you enjoy artists like this, please go see them live and buy a record or shirt. That’s the best way we can support musicians these days.
Oh, and also, switch from Spotify to Tidal.
Below is a full video of the show in Philadelphia.
CORY WONG PHOTOS
