The Vilar Performing Arts Center (VPAC) welcomes Portland sensations MarchFourth Marching Band on Monday, January 12 at 7:30 PM to kick off our Winter Underground Sound Series. Far from a marching band in any traditional sense, this 20-person ensemble has been dubbed “poster child for ‘party of the year.’” MarchFourth will take you on a musical journey, echoing the deepest grooves of American funk, rock, and jazz then boiling it all together in cinematic fashion with high-stepping stilt-acrobatics and dazzling dancers. Tickets to MarchFourth Marching Band are $25 advance/$30 day of, OR you can purchase an Underground Sound Pass for $125 (includes 5 shows & 5 drinks); both options are on sale now at the VPAC Box Office at (970.845.8497/www.vilarpac.org). Underground Sound passes must be purchased by January 1, 2015 for the special $125 pricing. The VPAC is located under the ice rink in Beaver Creek Village (68 Avondale Lane, Beaver Creek, Colorado).
VPAC Executive Director Kris Sabel states, “The MarchFourth Marching Band returns to our stage with a concert overflowing with jazz, rock and funk. This is definitely not your traditional marching band and you have to experience their performance for yourself to believe it.”
What began as a Fat Tuesday party on March 4, 2003 in Portland, Oregon has become one of the nation’s best live touring acts. NPR Music says MarchFourth (M4 for short) makes Portland look like “the grooviest place in America.” They bring an energy and style that takes the live concert experience to a new level of fun, turning unsuspecting concert-goers into fans for life and transforming ordinary events into joyous occasions.
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M4 has been writing and arranging all of its own material, designing and fabricating its own costumes and merchandise, developing its own choreography and managing itself from day one. The band tours with around 20 performers: approximately 8 horns, 5 drummers, bass, guitar, and 5 dancers/stiltwalkers. Their original music is anchored by funky electric bass and has been evolving into a rocking guitar- and vocal-driven journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the gypsy camps of Eastern Europe to the African jungle by way of Brazil.
With so many members and writers, M4’s influences are all over the map, but fans of Sgt. Pepper, Duke Ellington, Gogol Bordello, Ozomatli, and Cirque Du Soleil would likely feel at home in the audience. The first two studio albums released by MarchFourth were recorded, produced and mastered entirely “in-house.” Their newest release, Magnificent Beast was produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. Following their 2009 release, Rise Up (a tribute to post- Katrina New Orleans), Magnificent Beast has now evolved into a full-blown big-stage brass-rock-funk assault peppered with moments of swing, jazz, bollywood, ska and metal.
MarchFourth has shared the stage with a wide variety of acts, including Pink Martini, Budos Band, Balkan Beat Box, Trombone Shorty, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Beats Antique, Bassnectar, Antibalas, Melvin Seals and JGB, The Motet, Hot Buttered Rum, and Yard Dogs Road Show. Whether at a family matinee in a small town in Colorado or a sweaty nightclub in New York City or a festival mainstage in Louisiana, MarchFourth wins over audiences of all ages at every occasion
Tickets to MarchFourth Marching Band are $25 advance/$30 day of, OR you can purchase an Underground Sound Pass for $125 (includes 5 shows & 5 drinks); both options are on sale now at the VPAC Box Office at (970.845.8497/www.vilarpac.org). Underground Sound passes must be purchased by January 1, 2015 for the special $125 pricing. The VPAC is located under the ice rink in Beaver Creek Village (68 Avondale Lane, Beaver Creek, Colorado).