Con Brio Announces It Will Play Arroyo Seco Weekend Festival

Con Brio, the California funk-soul band PopMatters called “the best new live band in America,” will be playing at the Arroyo Seco Weekend Music and Arts Festival in Pasadena on June 25. Their appearance is one of multiple performances across the U.S., which includes festival shows such a BottleRock Napa Valley, Tahoe Music Festival, Electric Forest, and High Sierra Music Festival.

The group is touring in support of their “soulful, uplifting” debut album “Paradise.”

Named for a musical direction meaning “with spirit,” Con Brio has been packing Bay Area venues since 2009 – from the storied Cafe du Nord to Great American Music Hall to The Independent, as well as clubs across the country during their first national tour in 2012. Thanks to a legion of super dedicated fans, the band has shared stages with Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Fishbone and Meshell Ndegeocello, and opened for the venerable Trombone Shorty at the Fillmore.

In 2013, rebuilding after a lineup change, the longstanding rhythm section of keyboardist Micah Dubreuil, bassist Jonathan Kirchner and drummer Andrew Laubacher joined forces with Ziek McCarter, a Texas transplant who had begun drawing crowds at Madrone Art Bar as a 19-year-old by crashing their weekly Tuesday night funk jam to do Stevie Wonder covers and soon had his own residency at historic Fillmore District club’s The Boom Boom Room.

Adding in the electric guitar fireworks of effortless powerhouse Benjamin Andrews and a classic trumpet and tenor sax horn section culled from the best players in the Bay Area, the resulting dynamic fuses the skill and confidence that comes from years of stage time and longstanding musical partnerships with the thirst and energy of a rising star.

By 2015, when the band self-produced their debut EP (extended play), “Kiss the Sun,” Con Brio had already become a West Coast institution on the strength of their magnetic live show, with front man McCarter’s swiveling hips, splits and backflips earning him frequent comparisons to a young Michael Jackson or James Brown.

After a busy 2015 spent touring the U.S. and Europe, playing alongside veterans Galactic and Fishbone, and racking up critical acclaim on proving grounds like Austin City Limits – where PopMatters declared them “the best new live band in America” – they headed home to parlay their momentum, chemistry and tight live sound into a full-length record.

In an era when much has been made of the “death of the album,” there’s no question that “Paradise,” released in July 2015, is a fully-formed journey — a trip made all the more immersive by producer Mario Caldato’s raw, live style of production.

“We tried to create a narrative in the studio, in the same way that we segue between songs live,” explains McCarter of the record’s arc.

At the Arroyo Seco Weekend, Con Brion will be headlining acts such as Tom Petty and The Heart Breakers, Alabama Shakes, Broken Social Scene, and many more. They will be performing alongside Mumford and Sons, Weezer, The Shins, Fitz and The Tantrums, Andrew Bird, and many more notable acts.

Tickets are available through the band’s website, www.thebandconbrio.com/home/shows.