I've never seen any thread in here about them. So I thought I'd ask if anyone here is into them?

They first got on my radar when they turned the Grammys out a few years ago then I saw them opening for Santana. I don't own any of their albums but last night is the 3rd time I've seen them live and they are a great live band. I always have a fun time watching them.

Last night being Halloween, every band member came out dressed as Michael Jackson in different eras. Robert was Smooth Criminal Michael and the bass player was in the Thriller outfit but kept taking his wig off cuz it was hot. They opened with Thriller and did several MJ songs including Rock With You, Billie Jean, Wanna Be Startin Sumthin, and a 20 minute jam of Remember the Time.

Yet more confirmation of how Michael influenced an entire generation of musicians, singers, and dancers. It made me wanna cry. The cool thing is that Robert doesn't sing much but even sitting down he's so high energy that the show is really entertaining. Plus, on all the MJ songs the audience did all the vocals. It was great.

The highlight of the evening was when Robert kept calling people out of the audience to play with the band. For real. I've never seen such a thing. Could you imagine Prince doing this? Somebody in the audience would motion that they could play guitar. Robert would beckon the guy up on the stage and tell his guitar tech to get the dude a guitar and the mofo would get off. Another time he invites a dude to get on stage who sits at his slide guitar while Robert took over the drums. Yet another dude came on stage with his own bongo and Robert gave him the mic to play bongo into.

While this was going on, some crazy dude standing next to us in a complete bunny suit kept asking to get on stage. Finally, Robert let the bunny on stage, and he dances for awhile but then the tech gave him Robert's guitar and The Bunny played his tail off.

The whole rest of the night my girlfriend and I kept saying: Who knew the muthafuckin' bunny could play????

All in all, a great fun night.

Up next, Snoop next Sunday, Raphael Saadiq, Stevie Wonder, and Cher. November is gonna be a great month.
[Edited 11/1/09 13:50pm]

Here's them doing Billie Jean 5 years ago



And Don't Stop Til You Get Enough


[Edited 11/1/09 12:52pm]

I'm officially in love with Robert Randolph after seeing this

Been listenin to Robert Randolph and The Family Band for a good while now.

Haven't been lucky enough to see them live but, s'all good...can listen to the 's

Nice of you to take the time to start a thread about them here.

I've been diggin Robert Randolph since 2003.
Need more Love Everyday
The ironic thing here is to look at his audience.

I like their take on Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze" on the Power of Soul Tribute album.

Great band. When I had the record store and wanted to sell out of their CD, I'd just play it on a busy day.

One of the best acts no one knows about.

phunkdaddy said:

Typical

COMPUTERBLUE1984 said:

Yes, I forgot about that and I have that cd

After I heard "I Need More Love," which is still one of my "anthems," I thought I'd found my new group. But, after listening to their CDs, I can't say anything really grabbed me. They are one of those groups that I'd go see live, but wouldn't buy their CDs.

I have all their albums and have seen him live 3 times. I LOVES me some RR!

My sister and I saw them on New Years' Eve a couple of years ago... It was OFF THE HOOK! At midnight, they stopped playing, counted down, then sprayed the audience with champagne. It was Crazy!
They're from around here, so after the concert, they were going for breakfast in their home town. They announced that anyone who wanted to come along was welcome.... But it was snowing, so we went home.

I follow their schedule on MySpace, and I've been waiting for them to come back around...

I have a couple of their albums and was fortunate to see them lives several years ago. Sounds like this show was awesome. I would have loved to see that especially from such a great band of musicians.

Mars23 said:

Definitely slept on by a lot of peeps. I'd go see them live in a heartbeat.

SCNDLS said:

Great CD!

phunkdaddy said:

then again, Dave Matthews has taken him on tour many times so most of Robert's audience is full of college frat boys

i was lucky to catch RR at Fuji Rock festival here and the only other act better than him was Ben Harper & Relentless 7

RR has been playing MJ covers for quite some time now too (not just as a tribute) and seems like the nicest guy in the world

japanrocks said:

That was the one thing I didn't like!

That's interesting! I think I saw them once on Conan a couple of years ago, bought their album the next day enjoyed it for a while and then completely forget about them!

Thanks SCNDLS!

bluenote

I'm a fan. A buddy of mine hipped me to him before they blew up, tried to get me to collaborate with him.

I thought he was playing on David Sanborn's latest cd on the remake of Marcus Miller's killer tune "Brother Ray." But that slide sound turned out to be by Derek Trucks.

There seems to be room for only one creator of that sound at a time.

I try to keep an eye out for RR. Awesome talent and vibe.

couple of new songs on his website

http://www.robertrandolph...-chime.swf

and here is a clip w Robert & Dave doing a Ray Charles cover


[Edited 11/2/09 6:10am]
[Edited 11/2/09 6:10am]

Love'em LIVE.

Graycap23 said:

Grew up with Danyel (the bassplayer)...was on the phone with him the moment they confirmed MJ's passing on CNN...after a couple of minutes of shock we said at the same time : THAT Dood is the reason that i'm a musician! that following weekend I drove him to his gig in Dayton and popped in the Invincible Cd and we jammed all the way there...great musicians...even greater people.

panther514 said:

You could totally see their love/admiration of MJ on Saturday. They did at least 8 extended MJ jams. It was great. I was standing directly in front of the bassist. He was hilarious cuz he'd take the wig off for a few minutes then put it back on. And he kept busting MJ moves. It was great.

SCNDLS said:

These folks don't get any where near the love they deserve.

Graycap23 said:

NOT AT ALL.

Graycap23 said:

That's why I try to see them anytime they come through, which seems pretty frequent. They must stay on the road.

SCNDLS said:

That is how they eat.

Graycap23 said:

SCNDLS said:

that sounds like him...lol.

Graycap23 said:

Very True...we for some ungodly reason tend to focus on non-talents like Brittney and the like.