Ludo is the band that defies description, but I am going to give it a try. Lead man, Andrew Volpe has described the music as Adventure Rock and music that won’t make you dumber (I plan to take my SATs after seeing a Ludo show). My brother describes them as strange and eclectic. My mom describes them as hilarious, dramatic, and music for smart people. I describe them as nearly perfect.
I have seen Ludo perform seven times over the past four years and they have quickly become one my must-see bands. Their music covers themes like death and mourning, love and hate, and cover time-travel, dinosaurs, Bonnie and Clyde, The Wonder Years, falling in love in a Laundromat, and girls on trampolines.
If there were one band I was stuck on an island with, it would be Ludo. Ludo can transport an audience to anywhere in the world, whether it’s in the future or past. Their songs make you want to be a cyborg fighting a robot or a pirate! They also seem to be genuine, kind people and they always take time to take an interview or simply talk to fans after every show.
Seeing them live is better than listening to their recordings. The experience of seeing them perform on stage in space Dracula Basketball costumes makes you laugh and appreciate that they don’t take themselves too seriously. Ludo appears to be enjoying the show as much as their fans. And while they entertain large groups of devoted and theme-appropriately dressed fans with their outgoing personalities and engaging stage show, they play a very tight show. They are masters of their instruments and although their tone may be fun, they are serious musicians.
The nerd chic band consists of drummer Matt Palermo with the boy-next-door good looks. Tim Ferrell plays lead guitar and has the chops to play in any music genre yet he plays technically complicated riffs with feeling. Tim Convy the ersatz model and Moogist, keeps the crowd involved with tangoing to Rotten Town to winking to the nearest fans. Tom Cantillon, of Tommy and the High Pilot fame, plays bass on the last two tours and looks like he feels at home backing the Ludo boys. Finally, Andrew Volpe the man who will eventually take over the world, has a voice so enticing and pitch-perfect that the only way to describe it is to quote Dale from Step Brothers,” You have the voice of an angel. Your voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus.”
The current tour Space Dracula’s Basketball Expo kicks off the show dressed according to what theme the band assigned to each city. In Los Angeles, the theme was all three—space, Dracula, and basketball. The band kicked off the show, in costumes and doing a basketball drill. The unexpected soon becomes expected during a Ludo show.
Throughout the show, Ludo takes its audience on trips through space and time or to beer bashes behind Burger King. Each song is a new journey and a new story. Crowd favorites such as Lake Pontchartrain tells the story of a guy telling his version of how his friends disappear into the titular lake after eating some crawfish and All the Stars in Texas tell the love story of Bonnie and Clyde and they head out on a crime spree. Whipped Cream, the single off of their last album, has the crowd involved in a pelvic thrust-a-long.
Sing-a-longs are always welcomed at Ludo concerts. All five of the musicians did a very special acoustic version of their most popular song, Love Me Dead, while standing among the sitting crowd. Volpe serenaded us with Anything For You, with guest guitarist Mikey Cantillon from Tommy and the High Pilots and Tommy’s brother. Anything For You is a hyperbolic song of love in which the singer proclaims all he’ll do for his love, including giving away his leprechaun wishes, passing along secrets from deity, and chop down ancestral trees to proclaim his love.
One of the reasons that Ludo is one of my favorite bands is that they are unlike other bands. Their lyrics are clever and thought-provoking or simply funny. They also have an army of devoted fans who sing along to each and every song. The guys in Ludo also stay after the show. Not many bands take the time Ludo does to greet and get to know their fans. Ludo is a band of the cusp of playing large, arena shows and being featured on Saturday Night Live. If you get a chance to see them while they are still playing small clubs, you should take the opportunity. If there is a band to see again and again and again, it is Ludo.
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