The prog supergroup, Stick Men, made a stop in Westland, Michigan for their short summer 2024 tour. While Stick Men is usually a three-piece band, they added a fourth member on this tour and it made the band even more tight as a group. Whether it had been the original three piece line up or a four piece, it didn’t stop the band from wowing an enthusiastic Michigan crowd.
While people were settling into the venue, local bass player, Brad Russell, made his way to the stage. He made the joke that his band members were running late but confessed it was just him that was going to be performing. After a short introduction, he went into a multi-tracked version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing” with the magic of a looper pedal. By the time the song ended, Brad had the audience hooked and excited for the rest of his set. After doing a cool rendition of “Dust In The Wind”, Brad performed an original called, “Righteous Kid”, which had plenty of funk & bass tapping. He then closed his set with covers of “Rocket Man”, and “Since You’ve Been Gone”. Brad left a really good impression to the audience and was a great opening act for Stick Men.
STICK MEN
Stick Men’s set started with Markus Reuter performing an atmospheric soundscape piece that got the crowd zoned in on what would follow during their set. Following Markus’ soundscape, the rest of the band went right into the song, “Prog Noir”, which had a strong King Crimson influence to it. After the song, Markus addressed the audience of the additional member on stage. He mentioned that before the first night of the tour (7/18/24), Markus and Tony found out their drummer, Pat Mastelotto, was in the hospital for a pacemaker issue and wasn’t certain when he would be out of the hospital.
Thinking on their feet, one of the band’s roadie’s, Elvin McRae, got behind the kit and drummed for the band the first two shows of the tour. Pat was released shortly after and was able to play on a small electric kit and other electric toys for the remainder of the tour. While the situation was scary for everyone in the band, they ended up using the cards they were given and landed a full house.
The band continued on with the music and played an original piece called, “Ringtone” and followed it with a cover of Robert Fripp’s, “Breathless”. One of the unique things about this tour is that the band was able to give background to some of the compositions which they normally wouldn’t have time for on a regular set. Before performing “Breathless”, Tony Levin told the story of how him and Robert Tripp had met and how he ended up playing on his first solo album which is where the song spawned from. The band transitioned into an improvisation jam which Markus cleverly named, “The Token Lounge Improvisation”. In true improv fashion, the music went in many directions and took the audience along for the ride. The band then went into the King Crimson classic, “Larks Tongues In Aspic, Part Two” which received a standing ovation from the crowd.
As the crowd calmed down, the band held a short Q&A session with the audience. These questions ranged from Pat’s current health, a supposed percussion instrument on one of Peter Gabriel’s tour, and Tony Levin’s time in the band, Liquid Tension Experiment. When Elvin was asked about how it has been playing with the band, he said it has been an honor to fill in for Pat and is even more happy that Pat’s health has improved and has the chance to drum alongside him.
After the Q&A, the band launched into another King Crimson classic, “Red”, and played it like it was on the record. Then they played two original pieces called, “Cusp” & “Swimming In Tea”. Tony Levin had taken the melody on Cusp and made his Chapman Stick sound out of this world. Marcus gave background on the song, “Swimming in Tea” saying that he wanted to take the audience on a journey of human emotion and they did just that in the ten minute epic. The band closed the show with two more King Crimson songs: “Level Five” & “The Sheltering Sky”. “Level Five” is one of Crimson’s heavier songs while “The Sheltering Sky” was more atmospheric and mellow. After the final note of “The Sheltering Sky”, the members of Stick Men took a bow in front of the enthusiastic Michigan crowd.
If you ever get a chance to see Stick Men and/or Brad Russell, you don’t want to miss out. Both musical acts take the audience on a musical journey and have a blast doing it!
Relive the show! Stick Men & Brad Russell at Token Lounge
Photos by: Logan Brannigan
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