Performance painting by Frenchy
This evening, the Funky Meters return to the legendary stage at the corner of Tchopitoulas and Napoleon for the first time in ages. The original version of the group featured Art Neville on keyboards, George Porter Jr. on bass, Russell Batiste on drums and Brian Stoltz on guitar and rose out the ashes of the breakup of the original Meters. In recent years, Art’s son Ian has been playing guitar with the band and tonight Stoltz is being billed as a special guest.
Though the first unit has become one of the most sampled bands in the land, they never made much money during their heyday and disbanded over 30 years ago. The Funky Meters established themselves at the beginning of the jam band era and reached a much larger audience on the strength of the original band’s catalog of classics.
Besides sporadic shows with the Neville Brothers, Art Neville has mostly been out of the spotlight following a long recovery from back surgery, Porter Jr. has kept the flame of the Meters alive with his solo band the Running Pardners and with his trio with Johnny Vidacovich. DJ Soul Sister opens the show.
