Fitz and the Tantrums at The Space at Westbury

Fitz and the Tantrums
The Space at Westbury
Westbury, NY
November 11, 2014

Following an impressive opening set by Alan Wilkis' electronic music project, Big Data (who played an excellent version of its chart topping hit "Dangerous" and a fantastic cover of Hall & Oates' "Private Eyes"), with an all ages audience crowding the stage at Westbury, NY's The Space, the Los Angeles-based neo-pop/funk/soul group Fitz and the Tantrums blasted through a seventeen song set of high octane songs.

High energy lead singers Michael Fitzpatrick (Fitz) and Noelle Scaggs danced and bopped throughout the entire performance as the laser light show and swirling music got the audience singing, swinging and dancing along. Backed by the four talented musicians who supplied a tight, funky Motown-inspired sax/keyboard/organ backbeat (Jeremy Ruzumna on keyboards, James King on saxophone and flute, bassist Joseph Karnes and drummer John Wicks), Fitz and Scaggs operated as though they were fitness instructors at a dancerobics class. The two singers flirted, danced, gyrated, bumped and grinded throughout the evening's performance—all the while trading call and response vocals.

Fitz and his cohorts initiated the evening's festivities with "Get Away," from More Than Just A Dream (Elektra Records, 2013) followed by a with a killer version "Don't Gotta Work it Out," one of the charting singles from both the band's debut EP Songs for a Break Up, Vol. 1 (Dangerbird Records, 2009) as well as its debut full-length CD Pickin' Up The Pieces (Dangerbird Records, 2010). The set would its way through "Breakin' the Chains of Love," "Keepin' Our Eyes Out," "Spark," "Out of My League" (during which the audience sang along with Fitz), "Fools Gold," "Last Raindrop" and "6am." One of the highlights of the main set was the heavily syncopated and soulful cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" on which Scaggs and the band hit the high notes on the "Hold your head up, keep your head up" call portion of the verse while the audience handled the "Movin' on" response. Eventually the audience took an entire verse before Fitz came back to finish the song. The hour-and-a-half set ended with an amazing performance of the up-tempo and rhythmic "L.O.V."

Opening the two-song encore with a version of the infectious "MoneyGrabber" and with the song coming to an end, Fitz convinced the crowd to get low and close to the floor by exclaiming that " Fitz and the Tantrums like to get down...literally, we mean get low!" en called out the most stubborn of those on the dance floor, making everyone get low and down on the floor. Once he was sure that the entire audience had "assumed the position," the band drove back hard into the chorus. And as it kicked-in, Fitz, Scaggs and the entire audience literally jumped for joy, as he thanked the crowd for helping "spread the word about this band." They then closed out the evening with a stellar performance of "The Walker."

The sweat-drenched audience members were still buzzing about the amazing show as they crowded around the merchandise stand and eventually exited the venue into the cool November evening and toward the parking lots and their cars.

Photo Credit: Christine Connallon
[Additional article contributions by Christine Connallon].

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