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Biography
Formed by English-born guitarist Vernon Reid, Living Colour grew out of the Black Rock Coalition, a non-profit co-founded by Reid, for black musicians wanting to play rock and roll. Living Colour’s early musical excursions were an experimental mix of instrumental tangents, jazz jams, funk fusions and punk rock attacks, in contrast to their later major label releases.
Living Colour’s line-up became a fixture in 1986 consisting of Vernon Reid, vocalist Corey Glover, Muzz Skillings on bass, and Berklee College of Music graduate Will Calhoun on drums. Performing regularly and honing their skills the band released their debut album “Vivid” on May 3, 1988, which became popular after MTV began playing the video for the song “Cult of Personality. The album charted well at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and led to performances on Saturday Night Live, a Grammy Award and a support slot on The Rolling Stones’ Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour.
With their second album “Time’s Up” failing to live up to the first the band played a show at Lollapalooza in 1991 and released an EP of outtake entitled “Biscuits” to raise their profile. After which Skillings left the group to be replaced by Doug Wimbish, whom with the help of released the ambitious “Stain”, which reached No. 26 in the U.S. charts.
With such a plethora of musical influences the band couldn’t agree on a single musical direction and disbanded in 1995. They returned five year later in 2000 and played a live show using Calhoun’s and Wimbish’s drum and bass project Head>>Fake in which Reid and Glover made appearances. Despite critical acclaim their Living Colour’s fourth studio album failed to chart, and Sony released a extensive career spanning best-of compilation titled “Everything Is Possible: The Very Best of Living Colour”.
In 2006 Living Colour including Skillings for the first time in 14 years played a party Jack DeJohnette threw for his wife, and followed the show with a week-long European tour. The band’s fifth full-length album “The Chair in the Doorway” was released in 2009 landing an No. 159 on the Billboard 200 and was followed by a worldwide tour.
Live reviews
LIVING COLOUR - my mind has again been blown by these guys, which is not that easy to do these days. I've seen 100's of live shows at this point (it was one of the driving reasons for me to move to London back in 2003), and I've been lucky enough to see Living Colour roughly 10 times. I thought I had seen everything they had to offer. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love what they are serving and I will eat it up all day long, but Sunday Oct 1st at ULU in London? Holy smokes, this show was different. It was a step above every other LC show that I've attended, and I didn't think this was possible as the bar was already through the roof. There is so much to love about this quartet of freakishly talented musicians, each one is very much at top of their field (no blowing smoke here!). Not only that but these guys are the definition of synergy - they come together and make each other better, stronger, even more mind blowing. How the hell are they still so damn humble?? And why aren't they playing venues 10, 15, or 20 times the size of ULU? (No disrespect ULU, I love you really). I loved how each member got a solo moment to highlight their individual other-world talent, Doug Wimbish entrancing us by laying down a bass groove loop and then layering a very Wimbish melody on top; Will Calhoun even stepped out from behind his drum kit to take centre stage with some electric square bongo type device (someone please help me identify it before I embarrass myself further). The new material from just-released ”Shade" sounded fantastic (Who Shot Ya, Who’s That, Come On) and was very well received by all in attendance. Folks had really done their homework as lyrics to the new tracks were being belted out with much passion…
theflaminkiwi
Marking the 25th anniversary of 'Vivid,' the four rockers from New York City headed to Glasgow's Garage with their signature melange of grunge, funk and metal. With a set running from "The Cult of Personality" through to "Which Way to America?" this was a show primarily for die-hard fans.
The first thing that struck many of the crowd was Corey's unusually demure attire. Where were thoe trademark spandex shorts? However, from the very first track it was clear that Corey had lost none of his charm and humour, joking and singing with the crowd, to which he received nothing but love and rapturous applause. Although he may have been the star of the show, Vernon's enthralling guitar solos in 'The Cult' commanded our attention and definitely stole some of Corey's limelight. All of the favourites were performed, but the soulful rendition of "Amazing Grace" provided a calm interlude and moved me to tears. The band yielded to let Corey's stripped-back, heartfelt vocals rip through the air. This was by no means a perfect performance - the encore track "Love Rears its Ugly Head" was somewhat anti-climactic after such a high-pace set, but nonetheless it rounded the night off with a well-received sensual groove. It was also fairly unfortunate that the venue acoustics didn't allow for much discernible musical detail, but their mastery of performance and cohesion as a group demonstrated that Living Colour can still deliver the magic.
This show was UNBELIEVABLE! Living Colour still rocks as hard as they ever have. Great setting, great opening acts (Derek Day was very entertaining and better than I expected while The Veldt had tremendous energy and a tremendous sound) and the headliners' energy and volume were incredible. They were better last night than they were when I saw them 25 years ago! If they're in your area, check them out. You won't be disappointed.
tyrone-butler-1
It was great! Typical Living Colour, playing as loud and hard as humanly possible. They gave the people what they wanted, the old stuff. Most of the crowd has aged with the band, and it was kool. Keep on rockin' LC!
Set List
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LIVING COLOUR
BROOKLYN BOWL
ELECTION NIGHT
TIMES UP
WALL
MIDDLE MAN
DESPERATE PEOPLE
LANDLORD
IRNORANCE
WHO SHOT YA
COME ON
F.O.X.
TYPE/WHICH WAY TO AMERICA
CULT
AKing3
Excellent show with lots of energy. Good to hear these awesome songs again, too bad the set wasn't any longer. The broke up the set a couple of times with solo play which was nice, but I would have been happier if they had played a couple more songs like Pride or Postman. Would definately go and see them again though when given the opportunity. Corey's voice and Vernon's guitar play are untouched by time!
kristiaan-soomers
I loved the show. It was Living Colour like I Love them. High Energy very good singing, strong guitar solo combined with a heavy bass. There was only one Song I missed and that is which way to america, but the only
Reason for that is, that it is my personal favorite. I couldn't Have a better Evening with Living Colour and alter Bridge. Loved it loved it loved it.
Innuendo
Un show de esos que no te puedes quejar de nada, tuvo temas históricos, del nuevo álbum. Los puntos altos, sin duda, las variantes que introducen en la composición original y los solos de cada integrante. Demasiados valiosos Living Colour, música por lejos, eterna.
maquiroza
Band was awesome!
Vocals were even better!!
Sound was absolutely terrible!!!
Sound engineers should be ashamed of themselves.
No separation of sound. One big jumble of muddy noise.
Waste of amazing performance.
eddie-21
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