Lettuce and Tower of Power

Doors Open: 7:00pm
Show Time: 8:00pm
Taft Theatre

Artists

  • Lettuce

  • Tower of Power

Event Information

Due to scheduling conflicts, the rescheduled date for the Tower of Power and Lettuce concert at Taft Theatre (originally scheduled for September 22, 2021) will now be Thursday, August 11, 2022.  All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new date.

At This Time There Are No Health Entry Requirement For This Event.

Genre-busting six-member Funk band Lettuce and legendary Soul-Funk-R&B group Tower of Power will take the stage together live at Taft Theatre in Cincinnati, OH on August 11, 2022.

A renowned horn-driven outfit from Oakland, CA, Tower of Power emerged in the late '60s playing a dynamic blend of R&B, soul, funk, and AM pop. The window-rattling grooves and raucous party spirit of ToP has been a balm for the soul throughout the band’s half-century existence.

Emilio Castillo was only 17 years old when he met Stephen “Doc” Kupka and started to assemble the band that would become Tower of Power. “I had no vision at all,” he recalls now. “I just loved playing soul music. My idols were a local band called The Spyders and they had gigged in Sacramento. I thought, ‘Man, if I could just get to Sacramento that would be it.’ That's literally how small my vision was.”

The band has long since surpassed Castillo’s admittedly modest aspirations, traveling the world, enjoying hit singles on their own and backing some of the most legendary artists of the last 50 years – a list that includes Otis Redding, Elton John, Santana, the Grateful Dead, John Lee Hooker, Aerosmith, Bonnie Raitt, and countless others. In the process they have defined an “Oakland soul” sound as instantly recognizable as those from Castillo’s hometown, Detroit, as well as inspirations like Memphis and Philadelphia.

For more than two decades, Lettuce have brought a new vitality to classic funk, matching their smooth and soulful grooves with a hip-hop-inspired urgency and mastery of beat. The GRAMMY® Award-nominated six-piece—Adam Deitch [drums, percussion, arrangement], Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff [guitar], Erick “Jesus” Coomes [bass], Ryan Zoidis [alto, baritone, tenor sax, Korg X-911], Eric “Benny” Bloom [trumpet, horns], and Nigel Hall [vocals, Hammond B-3, Rhodes, clavinet, keyboards]—continue to break rules, push boundaries, and uplift with their high energy live shows and one-of-a-kind recordings. LETTUCE both feed the rich history of funk and also combine it with strains of hip-hop, rock, psychedelia, jazz, soul, and go-go.

“Funk is a living and breathing thing with a ton of sub-genres,” affirms Deitch. “Our goal is to add our own stamp to that by moving things around and bringing in jazz chords, psychedelic passages, big horns, and elements from the instrumental side of hip-hop. Funk is known as a very tightknit artform. We extend the template with improvisation on the spot. It forces us to react, pay attention, and listen to each other. By combining everything, we try to add something to the culture we love so much.”

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This is a past event

This event occurred on Thursday, August 11, 2022.