Photos: Jon Angel
Words: Slade Rand
A big band of New Orleanians rolled into Cervantes’ this weekend with a heavy-hitting catalog in tow to celebrate the homey club’s 22nd anniversary.
Ivan Neville, Tony Hall and Erica Falls fronted a fiery band on the Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom stage on Friday night as part of Denver Comes Alive, joined by Eric Krasno on guitar. Just a couple weeks into carnival season, they dedicated Friday night’s set to late great boogie geniuses Art Neville and Dr. John.
George Porter, Jr. played bass on some of he and Art’s thundering originals, like ‘Cabbage Alley’ and ‘Ain’t No Use.’ Early on in the set, the band took on Neville Brothers live favorite ‘Sitting Here in Limbo,’ and George sang the verses of ‘Mardi Gras Mambo’ for the Colorado crowd.
Members of Dumpstaphunk including Alex Wasily, Ian Neville and Deven Trusclair added to the family-style party. Jon Cleary played the role of Mac for his songs, including a groovy version of the Night Tripper’s ‘Mos’ Scocious.’
Ian Neville smiled and played his dad’s music onstage with Art’s bandmates and longtime co-conspirators, nudging up close to George and Tony to jam toward the end of the night. Ivan sang Mardi Gras party classic ‘Mojo Hannah’ and channeled Art’s style.
Ivan and Tony emceed the night, passing lead vocals to Jon Cleary and Erica Falls as the music called for it. They often explained to the Cervantes’ crowd what was about to go down. Colorado brass players Eric Benny Bloom and Nate Miller rounded out the horn section, plugging in and lighting up in the corner with Wasily.
Local bandleaders Eddie Roberts, Adam Deitch and Bill Nershi meanwhile ignited some extra fun next door with their own rare collaborations on the Other Side. Roberts, who’s behind the New Mastersounds and the Lucky Strokes, reunited the WRD trio Friday night.
WRD features Roberts on guitar, Robert Walter on organ/keys and Adam Deitch behind the drumkit. The three all-stars have a blast pushing each other and firing off bewildering solos.
Walter was fresh off a gig for Relix Magazine in Brooklyn playing with bandmate Mike Gordon and Taper’s Choice on Wednesday night. Last summer, he joined Roger Waters’ world tour. On Friday night, the seasoned vet tapped into surprising melodies and never left Roberts hanging through quick changes between funk, jazz and blues.
WRD came together just once prior for a single night also at Cervantes years ago, and cut their only record ‘The Hit’ for Roberts’ local Color Red label in 2021. They took original track ‘Bobby’s Boogaloo’ for a spin, and welcomed Dumpstaphunk’s Alex Wasily for a trombone sit-in on Friday night.
Wasily coaxed blistering riffs from Roberts during a duel midway through the band’s third tune, and lit a fire under the trio with his booming brass responses. Wasily then ducked out to join the New Orleanians headlining the Ballroom.
The Goo Bros played a fun set of band members’ favorite songs to get things going on the Other Side ahead of the Carnival throwdown. Adam MacDougall (Circles Around the Sun, Chris Robinson Brotherhood) and String Cheese Incident’s Bill Nershi flanked Ross James onstage, along with Jeremy Salken of Big Gigantic on drums and Garret Sayers of the Motet on bass.
The unique quintet could have played any request thrown their way. All smiles, they tore through the Dead’s ‘New Minglewood Blues’ and then aced a version of ‘Eventually,’ a tune Nershi wrote with SCI.
As that opening Goo Bros set wound down, they gave early music fans a spot-on cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’ MacDougall threw down one of his distinct solos on the Mini Moog Model D synth where he thrives, while Nershi delivered verses with heart.
Denver Comes Alive was a two-day, dual-venue event hosted by Live for Live Music at Cervantes’ Masterpiece Ballroom and Other Side in Denver. Cervantes’ is celebrating its 22nd anniversary this month.
Check out a full gallery of Friday night’s show, shot by Jon Angel for After Midnight, below:
After Midnight 
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