Rubblebucket makes Buffalo party like their heart hurts

Rubblebucket returned to Buffalo to a lively crowd on January 18 at Electric City in the Theatre District of downtown Buffalo.

Long-time friend of the band, Hannah Mohan, gleefully opened the show. This was the second stop on Rubblebucket’s ‘The Year of the Banana’ tour across the United States.

Hannah Mohan welcomed the audience with songs from her new album Time is a Walnut, showing an awesome performance to the crowd.

This tour especially showcases the bandleaders Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth’s musical chemistry and connections with their dedicated Northeast audience. Kalmia and Alex have been co-writing music together since their friendship at the University of Vermont. 

This tour celebrated the Year of the Banana, an album inspired by Kalmia’s self published poetry zine from 2015 that she wrote during her recovery from ovarian cancer.

Rubblebucket performed as a four-piece at Electric City which visually and musically showed an evolution in their performances since their ‘Rubblebucket Orchestra’ days when they could be performing with upwards of 6-8 performers on stage. Kalmia Traver (lead vocals, saxophone) and Alex Toth (vocals, trumpet, percussion, band parade leader, synthesizer) led the band together with the support of Stephen Becker (guitar, bass, vocals) and Rebecca Lasaponaro (drums).

The show delivered all the elements of a Rubblebucket show: haunting vocals, costume changes, elaborate tour sets full of surprises, parades, synchronized dance moves, driving drum beats, and horn flourishes with some poetic surprises. 

Despite it being an icy, snowy night in Buffalo, Rubblebucket immediately teleported us into spring with the YOTB’s opening track ‘Stella the Begonia’ and melodically flowed us through songs from their new album and similarly psychedelic tracks from ‘Earth Worthship.’

Kalmia performed spoken word from her zine into ‘Rattlesnake’ which was celebrated in the Guardian at the end of 2024. Later in their set, Rubblebucket played a sprinkling of songs from their beloved music catalogue such as ‘Geometry’, ‘Lemonade’ and the rambunctious favorite ‘Came out of the Lady’ which delved into a parade throughout the venue with the help of Hannah Mohan and their band on percussion and sporting tutus.

The set finished with psychedelic madness ‘Party like your heart hurts’ and ‘Go all the way with me’. Rubblebucket re-released the heartfelt cover of the Moldy Peaches’ ‘Anyone Else But You’ and the timely ‘Carousel Ride’ as an encore. Before performing their final parade and crowd sing along, the disco banana was placed and twirled on stage to finish the celebration of Year of the Banana.

Their next show is on January 21 at the A&R Music Bar in Columbus, Ohio with the support of Hannah Mohan and they will be playing across the country until late April. If you missed their ‘Year of the Banana’ tour, you can catch them in Woodstock, at Bearsville Theater on March 13, 2025. Buffalo looks forward to Rubblebucket’s annual return and we hope it’s to share another new album. 

Rubblebucket – Electric City, Buffalo – Friday, January 17, 2025

Setlist: Stella the Begonia, Moving without Touching, Morning Glory Blanket, Donna, Rattlesnake Poem > Rattlesnake, Sweet Spot, Earth Worship, Boomerang, Geometry, Lemonade, Came Out of a Lady, Poem > The Sorry That Comes With Loving You, Party Like Your Heart Hurts, Go All The Way With Me
Encore: Anyone Else But You (Moldy Peaches cover), Carousel Ride

Hannah Mohan

Rubblebucket

Comments are closed.