Not many artists carry the legacy that Herbie Hancock has. He has accumulated an Academy Award and 14 Grammy Awards (including album of the year), throughout his illustrious career. Now at age 85 years young, Hancock mostly tours on his past recordings (and there are many of them); 41 to be exact. There is a lot to grab from when he is performing live.
Hancock took to the stage at exactly 7:08pm. Backed by a 4 piece band, they consisted of trumpeter Terence Blanchard, bassist James Genus, guitarist Lionel Loueke and drummer Jaylen Petinaud. Hancock addressed the crowd first. He talked about how he was just watching the Buffalo Bills game. Which of course drew some raucous cheers in return. After a few minutes of banter with the audience, he took seat behind his Korg Kronos keyboard. He first played what he called “an “Overture” medley. This jam really was away to get everyone’s feet wet for what was to come for the rest of the night. Taking break from his Saturday Night Live gig, Blanchard showed his chops on the Wayne Shorter song “Footprints.” Hancock dazzled on “Actual Proof.” Hancock dusted off the keytar for a 3 song medley “Hang Up Your Hang Ups/Rockit/Spider.” I must admit the various expressions of “Vacoder Interlude,” I personally wasn’t a fan of. The 25 minute stretch had some people heading towards the the exit. In my opinion, the only misstep in what I would consider, a masterful musical performance.
Even though the setlist was short in the number of tracks, it wasn’t in length. The show was just short of 3 hours long. The show overlapped a Buffalo Bills game and it still was at near capacity. It showed that many people wanted to still see a musical genius in Hancock, no matter the time or day. They made a wise decision!
Setlist:
Overture (medley)
Footprints (Wayne Shorter cover)
Actual Proof
Butterfly
Vacoder Interlude
Secret Sauce
Hang Up Your Hang Ups/Rockit/Spider
Chameleon
We would like to thank Jamie M. Enser from UB Center for the Arts for the credentials to review the show.
