I saw that Cory Wong was performing at the O2 Academy in Bristol on the night I was staying in Bristol, had the stars aligned or was I just incredibly lucky? Where the plan fell down was that the entire show had sold out shortly after going on sale so I had two options. Option 1 - Head to the venue to see if anyone was selling any spare tickets and run the risk of not purchasing one, leaving me standing outside the venue straining to hear anything coming from the main room. Option 2 - Contact Cory’s PR Management and see if there was a way that they could squeeze me in, I opted for the latter.

A couple of days after sending the email to the Denver based PR company, I received a reply, not only were they over the moon that I had taken the time to contact them, they were more than happy for me to attend, shoot the show and pull together some words on how it all went down, I was in!

Now, on the way to the venue, I had a good hard think about who Cory Wong was….. how did I know him and what do others think about his incredibly unique guitar style. I recall his name from a few Vulfpeck live shows that I’d seen online and went about penning some notes for this feature. I was surprised to see that Cory wasn’t actually a part of the Vulfpeck lineup, well, not in the traditional sense, his name appears only as a ‘touring partner’ from 2016 to present day which means that he’s purely ‘hired hands’ for when the band decide to play live, took me by surprise a bit but there you go, every day IS a school day!

As I turned the corner to walk to the O2 Academy, I saw a queue, not just any queue, this was a super-queue, it stretched from the venue doors, all the way up the hill and past the venue that was formally known as the ‘Colston Hall’, there were hundreds of people, lining up nicely to get inside, grab a beer and prepare themselves for what was likely to be the show of 2022 so far, would it be worth the wait, you’ll have to read on to find out!

After meeting with some friends ahead of the show, I made my way in, had the obligatory 5 minute bag search, running through various pieces of my camera equipment (don’t get me wrong, I’d much prefer that the security team did this rather than just waving me through!) I was in. I made my way to the entrance to the photo pit and waited patiently until 5 mins before showtime. I had been told that stage times were 20:00 - 21:00 and then 21:15 to close which made me think that there was a support act up first, followed by Cory and his band, WRONG! Cory and Co. would take to the stage at 20:00 and perform a 1 hour set, leaving the stage at 21:00 for a 15 minute intermission, before coming back on at 21:15 for another 1 hour set, talk about pleasing your fans!

As the big hand struck 12 and the little hand was on 8, the lights dimmed, I bumbled my way into position in the photo pit and we were off, Cory was having some sort of an issue with his radio-mic which was meant to be attached to his waistband but had made it’s way loose, after a few moments, he was off and the show was ready to kick off.

The show was just as tidy, energetic and funky as you'd expect. Cory himself was on fine form, mixing choppy rhythms and screaming solos on plenty of fast-paced numbers with some more tender moments on slower songs ('Meditation' for example was an ethereal experience for the crowd) which gave the room a chance to get their breath back after the faster paced numbers. If this music was something that you were cycling along to on a ‘Peloton’ (other static home and gym based exercise bicycle devices are available) you’d either be very very fit or very dead after suffering a major coronary.  

Cory was not surprisingly surrounded by talent on every instrument (think about it, you’d have to be the best in your field for Cory to even consider picking you to audition for his band!); each track had a fresh opportunity for someone else to stand out and deliver an excellent solo. Kevin Gasonguay's work on the keyboards was an absolute pleasure to listen to (I am a sucker for an organ solo). Yohannes Tona did an incredible job deputising for Cory's usual bassist, especially when you end a set with the Vulfpeck favourite 'Dean Town', which predictably went down like a gratis night at the local strip club.

Looking around the room, I asked a few people which tracks Cory and the band had performed during their blisteringly paced energetic set, many looked at me and smiled and said that they didn’t know but whatever they were, they were amazing! Luckily, some kind soul (and major Cory fan) had put the entire setlist on a website especially for setlist (hallelujah) so what you see below is the entire set which as I said earlier, consisted of 2 acts followed by a 2 track encore.

If you missed him in the UK, you MAY get lucky and catch him in Europe where he will be spending much of his time between now and April 14th prior to heading back Stateside where he’ll be making people tap their toes and nod their heads from the end of April to the end of August 2022. Tickets for all of his shows can be purchased HERE

Words by Steve Muscutt and James Goodwin

Pictures by Steve Muscutt

Setlist

Set 1

Lunchtime

Gumshu

Welcome 2 Minneapolis

Bluebird

Smooth Move

Ketosis

Tiki Hut Strut

Home

Set 2

(Unknown)

St. Paul

Lilypad

(Unknown)

Assassin

Meditation

Encore

Airplane Mode

Dean Town (Vulfpeck cover)