[UPDATED] Voodoo Dead Welcomes Brandon ‘Taz’ Niederauer & Leslie Mendelson In New York City

The 11th Annual Nolafunk Mardi Gras Ball & Tour featuring Voodoo Dead continued on Friday night with a sold out show at Irving Plaza in New York City. Voodoo Dead ’17 features guitarist Steve Kimock along with bassist Oteil Burbridge, drummer Wally Ingram, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and multi-instrumentalist Jackie Greene plus special guest guitarist/vocalist Papa Mali. The band was also joined by a pair of guests in NYC as vocalist Leslie Mendelson and young guitarist Brandon “Taz” Niederauer sat-in at separate points of the show.

Voodoo Dead focused on Grateful Dead classics throughout two sets at Irving Plaza with other gems thrown in for good measure. Friday’s first set included a fun “Shakedown Street” opener, an expansive “Dark Star” > “The Other One” “Dark Star” sequence and a guest appearance from Mendelson on “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” and “Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad.” Niederauer, the 13-year-old star of Broadway’s School Of Rock, emerged during the second set to add to a cover of The Meters’ “Cissy Strut.” Taz wowed throughout his sit-in and earned huge roars from the crowd and the band at the end of the jammed-out Meters cover. Other standouts from the back half of the show were a delicate “Eyes Of The World” and raucous “In The Midnight Hour” as well as the “Not Fade Away” encore.

Watch Taz tear through “Cissy Strut” with Voodoo Dead captured by ThemeBoudin:

Full Show Audio (Taped by Nico11104)

Setlist

Set One: Shakedown Street > Brown Eyed Women, Loser, Dark Star > The Other One > Dark Star, That’s What Love Will Make You Do*, Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad*

Set Two: Eyes Of The World > Cissy Strut^, So Many Roads, In The Midnight Hour*

Encore: Not Fade Away*

* w/ Leslie Mendelson, * w/ Brandon “Taz” Niederauer