Black Pumas walk away with high marks
Fort Adams State Park, Newport, R.I., 2021
Reviewed by Jeffrey B. Remz and Marc Cantor
The Newport Folk Festival schedule listed the mid-afternoon slot on the schedule To Be Determined.
Whoever made the determination to put the Austin-based band on the roster of artists on closing day deserves a big raise.
Black Pumas pretty much walked away with the festival with their mid-afternoon gig on the main stage of high energy funk, soul and psychedelically-tinged blues. Lead singer Eric Burton easily overcame early microphone issues with confident swagger quickly connecting with the enthusiastic fandom.
Austin 360
If you’ve wondered if it’s possible to socially distance at a sold-out Stubb’s show: The answer is no, not really.
Wednesday was a steamy night, with temperatures lingering in the 80s well after the sun went down. And for the first large, full-capacity concert in downtown Austin since March 2020, just a few folks lingered near the very back of the amphitheater, where it was almost possible to maintain a bit of space between strangers. The vast majority of the roughly 2,000 Black Pumas fans who snagged tickets for the first night of a historic run of five sold-out shows at the largest venue in the Red River Cultural District packed in shoulder to shoulder, jockeying for a good position to see the red-hot Austin soul band whose stratospheric rise has continued despite the coronavirus pandemic.