Sammy Rae & The Friends at the Palace Theatre (10-03-2024)

Sammy Rae and The Friends were back in town at the Palace Theatre on Thursday, the same venue that they played almost a year before. We are big fans and this was our third time seeing them. In 2022 we caught them at First Ave with their Scooby-Doo theme concert. Last year it was a camping party. Last night they arrived to support their debut album Something For Everybody.

Victoria Canal opened the evening. She is a singer-songwriter, born in Munich Germany to a Cuban mother and an American father. She has lived all over the world and took up music at a young age when she received a full ride to the Berklee College of Music Summer Performance Program in Boston, MA at age 13.

“It’s my first time here,” Canal admitted. Then she asked everybody if they could do a group “shake off” to get rid of her nerves.

Canal was joined on stage by Lucy Clearwater, and she addressed her limb differences. She was born without a right forearm and said that there is an unrealistic view of beauty in social media nowadays and how it conditions people to hate their looks. So her song “Shape” champions that one can be hot and disabled at the same time.

Canal’s debut album, Slowly, It Dawns, is coming out on January 17th, and she played a couple of songs from it: “Talk” which is about having inconvenient crushes and “15%” which was a lovely song in which James Quinlan from Sammy Rae & The Friends joined her on stage.

Sammy Rae and the Friends at Palace Theatre (05 Oct 2023)

How best to describe Sammy Rae & The Friends… I like Vu’s description from their show a year before: “It certainly didn’t feel like a concert, but more like Sammy Rae and her friends on a typical Thursday night, just goofing around and having a lot of fun.”

Even Rae would be at a loss as to what defines the group with her on lead vocals, Quinlan on bass, Kellon Reese on alto sax, Max Zooi on tenor sax, Debbie Tjong on keys, Will Leet on guitar and Sebastian “C-Bass” Chirboga on drums. There are two binding aspects, though:

1. They want to have a good time.
2. They want to be inclusive.

When it came to being inclusive, not only did it mean creating a safe place for all to participate, but also creating a sound that was ever-changing, moving from disco with “Cool Doug” to soulful lounge with “No Rulebook” which was a fan favorite. Then there was a trip to Chicago with its sultry blues of “Luck of the Draw” and a dash of schoolhouse rock with “Good Time Tavern.”

A highlight was a story Rae told about being in the van with her band on a rural road in the quiet night. Everything about the moment was sleepy so everyone heard C-Bass end an intimate phone call, “Babe, you know I’ll call you back.”

Instantly, a charge went through the group for they had an impetus of a new song “Call Ya Back” a song infused with the sound of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Remaining Tour Dates: