Review | Gill Sheds and Gives Skin at SOhO

As just one of the unique features of last Friday’s SOhO shindig “Zach Gill’s underground dance party,” clubgoers were forced to enter through an attitude adjusting portal — by order of the artist-in-charge. A large, dark tented structure, turned shrine-like with accouterments and photos of belated music celebrities, was perfectly timed with Dia de Los Muertos celebrations and traditions on November 1. We passed through to SOhO’s outdoor patio leading into the club proper, as if passing through a cleansing zone and arriving on an implied “other side,” to an acceptance of what Gill, our resident mystical tour guide and merriment counselor said late in the show, “what a weird and wonderful thing it is being human.”

We’ve grown accustomed to expecting creative twists on standard pop music presentations from Gill, going back to shows with his band ALO — with a long history of shows in this very space — and on stages large and larger in his role as Jack Johnson’s wily right-hand man. A man of many keyboards, Gill can also be counted on to bust out the mighty accordion for our listening pleasure, as he did on this night, to the tune of Madonna’s “Into the Groove.”

Also on this night, empowered and enabled by the Halloween/Dia de Los Muertos timing, he donned and shed various costumes and musical guises. At one point during the solo portion of the show, Gill busted into a song inspired by some advice from an old friend and the Independent’s own Matt Kettmann — “protect yourself with appropriate apprehension” — and eventually stripped away his lab coat in outer layers to reveal a startling musculature outfit. Memories of anatomy book illustrations mixed it up with Halloween abandon at that moment. It was in keeping with a running theme of the evening, concerning the actual and metaphorical dimensions of snakes shedding their skin.

Theatrical and conceptualist notions aside, Gill proved true to the advertising and also delivered on the dance party front. That aspect kicked into high yet rootsy gear with the impressive opener Katie Skene, a powerful singer from the blues/Americana/soul front. She also happens to be a badass guitarist, boasting a special and soulful way with slide playing on her Duane Allman-approved Gibson SG.

After a solo set which included Gill’s gleeful anti-anthem “Nonsense Brigade,” his fine band joined the stage — in lab coats, natch — and upped the energy ante, from Gill’s classic “Joy” to a groove-lined take on Neil Young’s timeless (and yet seasonally timely) “Harvest Moon” and the funk-fueled “Sweet Spot.” Magic happened, as well, on a slippery-grooved “Abracadabra,” with Skene joining in. Dance fever, of the underground, hippy sort, took over the room.

Respects for legendary musicians who have passed on found a natural subject in the recently belated Phil Lesh, with a singalong version of the Grateful Dead tune “Ripple” — with its fitting refrain “let there be songs to fill the air.” The song fest concluded with Gill’s own final encore, “Up from Down Below,” from his Life in the Multiverse album.

In all, Gill’s latest SOhO show was much more than another gig. It was an event, with muscle and blood and soul, and spirits having both flown and landed.