Review | ALObero Landing

Call it a constellation or an extended family tree, but the healthy list of bands spawned in Isla Vista/UCSB who have gone on to global acclaim amounts to a verifiable pop culture phenom. The bandography of acts that have risen from I.V. roots to Santa Barbara Bowl (and larger) level profile of world touring naturally includes major pop-goes-the-reggae acts Iration and Rebelution and the epic nice guy Jack Johnson, accidental master of his own meteoric legend.

And then there is the style-hopping, dance-inducing jamband-and-thensome aggregate known by its acronym ALO (a k a Animal Liberation Orchestra), who wowed the crowd at the Lobero Theatre. Whereas ALO’s shows in the compacted club pressure cooker of SOhO can have a kindly shimmying shoulder-to-shoulder intensity, last week’s theatrical evening felt more expansive and relaxed. It was a happy homecoming, a blissful marriage of site and sound.

ALO is mostly Northern California–based at this point, with the hometowner Goletan status belonging to Zach Gill — whose other “gig” finds him as an amiable left-hand man in Johnson’s band. ALO has also been signed to Johnson’s Brushfire Fairytale label for the past six of its 10-album discography, the latest of which is the succulent Silver Saturdays. On a local shoutout note, Gill spoke fondly of his Goletan ‘hood, and “the sweet spot between Home Depot and Deckers.”

Although the bandmates’ collective history goes back to junior high school, the band as such made the pact official at UCSB in the 1990s. While in the jazz ensemble led by UCSB teacher/drummer Jon Nathan (who was in the Lobero house), the group congealed into Animal Liberation Orchestra & The Free Range Horns, pared down to the lean combo ALO. The story continues.

As a compatible and logical opening act, surfer/blues-rocker Donovan Frankenreiter stirred up a fetching sound and laid out some impressive guitar moves. In keeping with the spirit of the night, jamming was allowed.

From ALO’s opening tune, “Fire I Kept,” the interactive band bond, built up over decades, was readily apparent, between Gill, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz on guitar (acoustic with a flexible electro-acoustic sound palette) and periodic savory pedal steel parts, bassist Steve Adams, and drummer Ezra Lipp (a relative newcomer, in the ALO fold since 2010).

The setlist touched on a spread of items from the ALO jukebox, tracks from 2023’s Silver Saturdays demonstrated the ongoing fitness and fettle of the band, from the bubbly sleek “Oil” to the R&B party favor “Growing Your Hands Back” and the Grateful Dead-phonic loper “Rewind.” They also busted out a couple of instantly infectious new tunes, “That Feeling Again” and “Warmth of the Night.”

No, they did not opt to play their best-known song, “Girl, I Want to Lay You Down,” perhaps cognizant of the family-friendly ambience in the room. But during the three-song encore, they did call up another popular — and local colored — number, “Wasting Time (Isla Vista Song),” sinking into the slinky soft-serve rap/soul with pedal steel attached. Wasting time rarely sounded so fine and easy-funky.

By the end of the generous and amiably rambling musical evening, a consensus opinion on and offstage was that this special room and this special band really need to go on meeting like this. ALObero, ahoy.