Live Review: Imaad Wasif 4/25/2010 Bowery Ballroom

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The infinitely talented Imaad Wasif played Bowery Ballroom this past Sunday night and brought along with him some nostalgia for hard rock from years gone by. He opened for fellow hard rockers Dead Meadow and blew through a spellbinding hour long set. Seasoned veterans (Vietnam?) Endless Boogie warmed up the mixed age crowd with a 20 minute continuous jam that left ears ringing and aptly set the tone of the evening to a pleasant shade of 1969.

Wasif carefully set up his instrumentation for the evening and dove headfirst into his set with “Redeemer” followed by “Priestess” and shortly thereafter the skittish crowd that had been congregating towards the back of the venue moved their way forward to the edge of the stage. Wasif has the staggering ability to squeeze more life out of an acoustic guitar than most musicians can muster from a Strat with nary a capo in sight. His performance was equal parts practical precision and jam band improv mixed with the fervor of a religious rite. The band performed as an austere power-house trio composed of Adam Garcia on drums and Greg Burns on bass and were joined by Yeah Yeah Yeah’s drummer Brian Chase towards the end of their set for a mind blowing rendition of “Fangs.” Chase looked to be thoroughly enjoying his cameo and the rapport between the two (Wasif is the occasional touring axeman for YYY’s) was palpable.

Wasif frequently jumped off stage to hug audience members (we were first amongst the chosen few, most likely due to our dead-center locale) and was treated to an especially tender bear hug from Dead Meadow drummer Stephen McCarty who joined the crowd to watch Wasif’s performance, what was to be their last together on tour. In short, Imaad Wasif is this day and age’s very own voodoo child. Check out his latest release The Voidist here and his tour dates. Chances are your parents will dig it too. Enjoy our video and pictures above and below.

Note: There are several pages of pictures after the jump so make sure you click through each page ;)