ESG

The New York funk veterans ESG have been stunning audiences for over thirty years with their endlessly grooving music. Interestingly the four sisters originally started playing instruments together after their mother believed this to be a way of ensuring her children kept out of trouble on the mean streets of the Bronx. And thank goodness she did as ESG became one of the most important funk bands to arise in the eighties. They may be a lot older now, but ESG still offer an incredible, energetic live performance, performing their hits with great aplomb as if they have only just started. At KOKO in London in January this year, they proved just this, with a set that incited huge swathes of the audience to boogie their buttocks off, attracting an audience of al ages, proving their music to be still influential to this day. They played their classic tunes like "UFO," "Dance" and "My Love For You" pushing the funk levels to a riotously danceable level. Highlight was perhaps the encore "Erase You" which just perfectly summed up the night, laying down some serious groove which made it difficult for the audience to accept that the night had come to an end. It is great to see artists like ESG still going strong and the world of live music is all the better for it.

ESG is a super fun band to see live. The lead singer is totally unassuming in her later age, but she has such a blast on stage dancing around! The band was all dressed pretty interestingly, most in some sort of sports attire. The stage was kind of dark and there weren't any direct lights, but the stage was lit up. They had a bunch of oddly shaped lights that were strung down all over the place. The bass was on the left of the singer and there were congos and a full drum set all around. The crowd was super responsive. Almost everyone was dancing along with the singer, which I thought was a little surprising! Knowing other people were into it as much as I was made me feel a bit more energetic. Moody was one of my favorite songs they played because the bongos were so fun to listen to and they played pretty much the whole song all through! They played another song that I didn't quite catch the name of, but the time signature kept changing, which made the whole experience really energetic and fun. As a musician, I love when I see bands try things like that.

ESG will grab you by the hips and make you sway with a beat that you cannot resist. This band knows how to ROCK body and mind.
I flew across the country to see them and it was absolutely worth it.
They owned me at the first drop of the beat. The bass completed the deal.
Seriously, if you are willing to lose yourself in dance and want to experience true joy, go see this band.

The ESG show was my first time at Le Poisson Rouge. It was very organized, straight forward getting into the venue. ESG puts on an extremely good show and I am so grateful that I was able to see them live. It was an overall good show and a good time. I wish I can do it again one day. :)