Always good to see the pop-funk band Couch playing in the area, as they did on Saturday, Nov. 10, opening for jazz/rock/funk guitarist Cory Wong and friends at Roadrunner in Boston.
The local angle for Couch is that bassist Will Griffin and trumpeter Jeffrey Pinsker-Smith graduated from Wellesley High in 2016 (other band members hail from Needham and Newton, and one player’s dad grew up in Wellesley). Singer Tema Siegel, a Newton South High School grad, told the Roadrunner crowd how glad the band was to be home (she joined Cory Wong’s instrumental gang for a couple of songs later during the show).
We interviewed Couch band members in 2022, and have covered the 7-piece outfit’s appearances in recent years at local festivals such as Boston Calling and Levitate. We weren’t there to do a real review of the band on Saturday, but what the heck, let’s give them a fresh shout-out. We attended just to listen and watch after friends from New Hampshire who we introduced to the band’s music a while back invited us to join them for the show.
Couch as always was energetic and engaging, playing nine songs, including their ever-so-swanky cover of “Conjunction Junction” as well as newer songs from their 2023 “Sunshower” EP. Fans sang along throughout, including when specifically invited to do so in three-part harmony.
The band has attracted a huge local and largely young following that was was out in force at Roadrunner, a 3,500 capacity venue that was packed from the start. I’ve been to the club a bunch of times and have never seen such a big crowd for the opening act.
We were introduced to one band member’s dad who we hadn’t met before, and he said the parents are definitely not taking the ride that Couch is on for granted.
Couch is in the middle of a big tour with Cory Wong that wraps up in North America before Thanksgiving, then heads to Europe in the new year.
View this post on Instagram
More music coverage:
- Dispatch bringing locally recorded songs, push for civic engagement to Boston shows
- Norway-based Kaizers Orchestra’s loooong awaited U.S. return to start in Cambridge
- Jake Shimabukuro shows Natick that the uke has no limits
- Boston Calling Musical Festival ’24: A celebratory mix of pop, country, hip-hop, indie rock & you name it
- Floating on at Levitate Music & Arts Festival
Leave a Reply