Victor Wooten & The Wooten Brothers @ The Gov, Adelaide 26/5/2023

Victor Wooten & The Wooten Brothers at The Gov was one of those extraordinary gigs that people will be talking about for some time to come and for those lucky enough to be there will be able to drop that in to future conversations saying “do you remember when?” or “did you you see Victor Wooten & The Wooten Brothers at The Gov?” This was an elite masterclass in musicianship and collectively The Wooten Brothers demonstrated how innovative and dynamic they are as a band they are leaving Adelaide fans in awe of their performance.

The Gov was absolutely packed and it was a great Friday night vibe and this was an Australian first with Victor Wooten playing with here with his brothers Joseph (keys / vocals), Roy (percussion/vocals), Regi (guitar/vocals) and joined in spirit by Rudy. It is a staggering thought to considering the lineage and the six degrees of separation of the artists they have connected with over the journey.

Victor proved why he is touted as the Michael Jordan of bass as they jammed before Roy took over vocal duties on Not Just Religion and Unity. The crowd were really in to it with Victor acknowledging the love out there amongst friends saying how great it was to be playing with his brother, his teachers, and that he was the baby of the bunch. The stories behind the music were interesting, engaging and powerful in. Consuela Smiles and the Bill Lee composition John Coltrane were a couple of standouts.

The band were super tight and there were some absolute gems in the set with Victor talking about recordings from a project in the 70s that they had forgotten about and a lengthy process to acquire the demo ‘cassettes’. That’s right, cassettes. With those recordings to be released next year the band relarnt three of them which were played. Let’s Dance, Get Down and What We Like To Do are brilliant tracks and if this is the calibre of the songs from those cassettes this will be one hell of an album.

Stevie Wonder influences were obvious with the stand out being My Cherie Amour and it was hard to believe that nearly two hours whizzed by. When you put on a masterclass like this and you’re that good an encore really does seems redundant. What way to leave your mark and leave the stage after ripping through Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine. Definitely one of those gigs where you just had to of been there.

Live Review By Rob Lyon