Tank and the Bangas rose quickly to fame last year after winning the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. It’s quite obvious that Tank, fronting the band, was first recognized as a slam poet. Her facial expressions, rhyming capabilities, and overall engagement with the audience is unlike anything else that we’ve seen. Add in the New Orleans funky soul vibes from the rest of the band and you clearly have a winning combination. As Aubrey put it: “I am not really a religious person, so millenial, I know. I think I now may worship Tank and the Bangas. Their sold out show at Headliners earlier this week was as spiritual experience as they come.”
After seeing them sell out Zbar last June (one of our fav shows of the year, tbh), we were hooked. And apparently we weren’t the only ones. Photographer Brandon Turner (Unsung Hero Media — follow him on FB & IG!) reached out to us after hearing about Tank from our site (🙌💪) and asked to take photos for the show. Guys, if you haven’t seen Brandon’s photos yet, SRSLY follow him and take a look because they are amazing. He captured opening act Sweet Crude, as well, which is fun because you know we struggle to make it to anything on time. Brandon and Aubrey had similar experiences, saying that “witnessing Tank and the Bangas live is a one of kind experience from the energy, emotion and improvisation.”
Anyway, moral of the story – Tank and the Bangas have been to Lou twice in the last year, sold out two different (huge capacity jump for sure) venues, and all the while made every single attendee’s day infinitely times better because of experiencing their show. In the best way possible, you are forced to enjoy yourself immensely, dancing (& maybe trying to sing?) along with Tank – even though she outshines you each and every time but it doesn’t matter in the end – from the second they walked on stage until the second they left. TATB: we know you all will continue to do so well, and we hope that you come back again!
-Brittany
*All photos are courtesy of Brandon Turner | Unsung Hero Media – you can view all of his photos from the show on Flickr ⬇️
Live Music Louisville 