Opera House: Galactic ft. Erica Falls, 3/17 & 3/18

12 Mar Opera House: Galactic ft. Erica Falls, 3/17 & 3/18

Telluride’s Sheridan Arts Foundation presents Galactic ft. Erica Falls live at the Sheridan Opera House on Sunday, March 17, and Monday, March 18. Tickets are $52 general admission on the floor; $65 reserved seats in the balcony. (A $5 ticketing fee is charged at all ticket outlets.) Tickets and additional event information are available at sheridanoperahouse.com or 970.728.6363 x5.

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Galactic returns to the Sheridan Opera House for a two-night run after a sold out show in March 2018. Singer Erica Falls is featured with the band as they promote their new album ALREADY READY ALREADY

Galactic’s first new studio album in more than three years, ALREADY READY ALREADY,  released on their own Tchuop-Zilla Records just this past February, sees the renowned New Orleans-based instrumental outfit taking a distinctly contemporary approach towards their own progressive sound, interpolating modern rhythms and electronic instrumentation within the house-shaking framework of the Crescent City’s funk pop ‘n’ roll.

Produced by the band’s Robert Mercurio and Ben Ellman, the new LP finds Galactic once again enlisting a diverse array of vocal collaborators to assist in their musical exploration, each of whom lend lyrical flavor and individualistic personality to the band’s multi-faceted sonic grooves

Bookended by a high-powered pair of trademark Galactic instrumentals that give the album its title, ALREADY READY ALREADY, the album is a short, sharp blast of undeniable creative muscle, from the stripped-down kick/snap verses of “Going Straight Crazy,” featuring New Orleans singer (and YouTube sensation) Princess Shaw, to punk cabaret artist Boyfriend’s quirky speed-rap on the breakneck “Dance At My Funeral.”

As ever, Galactic’s omnivorous musical interests make easy classification utterly impossible – ALREADY READY ALREADY is as all-encompassing and universal as the band’s moniker established long ago.

“I’ve never been able to put a label on what we do,” Ellman says. “I could say it’s funk or I could say it’s R&B or jazz or whatever else, but really, it’s all of that.”

“It’s not that we’re always trying to push boundaries,” says Mercurio, “but we definitely take influence from our hometown and try to do something new with it. We tour all around the world and we’re exposed to tons of elements that filter their way into our consciousness and come out through our music.”

Galactic brought in a diverse array of predominantly young female singers, each of whom brings her own disparate musical tastes and cultural flavor. Working with artists lesser known on the national stage, but beloved in their own community, enables Galactic to evince a kind of sonic truth about their hometown, putting its multi-faceted underground to the fore.

“Trust me, I loved having Macy Gray and Mavis Staples on our last record,” Mercurio says. “It was an honor to work with them. But there’s something fun about making music with someone not everybody has heard of and end up getting a great reaction to it. There are no preconceived thoughts as to what the song should be like because the listener doesn’t know the artist as well.”

That being said, a number of the voices heard on ALREADY READY ALREADY are Galactic veterans: “Touch Get Cut” features the band’s touring vocalist, Erica Falls, while “Clap Your Hands” is sung by Ms. Charm Taylor, previously featured on 2015’s acclaimed INTO THE DEEP. The lilting “Everlasting Light” teams Galactic with frequent collaborator, The Revivalists’ David Shaw, alongside Nahko of Nahko & Medicine For The People – the only non-New Orleans resident among the features.

Galactic is on the road as usual, with Erica Falls putting her own stamp on ALREADY READY ALREADY’s songs as they manifest new shapes through live performance.

The party continues with an AfterSHOW featuring SNRG both nights immediately following Galactic.

AfterSHOWs are free and open to the public with priority admittance given to ticket purchasers of the main stage show that night.

SNRG is the stage name for Chicago-based electronic DJ Devin Redmond.

Devin began following his dreams of DJing three years ago after the unexpected death of his father and he strives to share with the listener the fruits of his creative process. Nothing brings Devin more joy than getting lost in the therapeutic journey that music can provide, and so he travels and attends music festivals as much as he can. With a background in R&B and Hip Hop, Devin cultivates an experience with a genre-diverse collection of electronic dance music containing infectious grooves and melodies inspired by the likes of Oliver Heldens, EDX, SNBRN, Gorgon City, and Seven Lions that will leave the audience dancing, smiling, and feeling uplifted.

The Sheridan Arts Foundation was founded in 1991 as a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization to preserve the historic Sheridan Opera House as an arts and cultural resource for the Telluride community, to bring quality arts and cultural events to Telluride and to provide local and national youth with access and exposure to the arts through education. The Sheridan Arts Foundation is sponsored in part by grants from the Telluride Foundation, CCAASE and Colorado Creative Industries.