SANDY, Utah - With the excitement surrounding the 2009 MLS All-Star Game ramping up towards next Wednesday's big game in Sandy, Rio Tinto Stadium invites music and soccer fans to gather on Tuesday, July 28, for the MLS All-Star Jam concert and fan festival, being held at The Canyons in Park City (4000 The Canyons Resort Dr.) from 7:00-10:00 p.m. MT.
The FREE evening of fun and music at The Canyons' Resort Village will be headlined by New York-based recording artists Soulive, with Utah's own Shaky Trade serving as the opening act for the outdoor concert. The MLS All-Star Jam festivities will also include an autograph sessions with select MLS All-Stars and Real Salt Lake players, the roster of which will be announced this weekend on Real Salt Lake's team blog, Behind the Shield, located at www.RSLtotheCore.com.
This past March marked the 10th anniversary since Eric Krasno, Alan Evans and his brother Neal Evans got together for the first time as Soulive at a home studio just outside of Woodstock, NY, and over those 10 years the group has covered a lot of ground, both musically and literally. In addition to traveling to nearly every corner of the world and across America dozens of times, not many bands can say they've recorded with Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews, Talib Kweli and John Scofield, nor can many bands open for The Rolling Stones on one tour and have Stevie Wonder sit in with them on the next tour. The musical relationships the band has developed, from the aforementioned artists to Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Robert Randolph, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett, Fred Wesley, The Roots, Ivan Neville and so many others, speak volumes about both how versatile these talented musicians are - between jazz, hip-hop, rock, soul, funk, R & B, Blues, there is not much the band hasn't done.
While ten years is something to celebrate, Soulive is not a band to look backward. Unencumbered by record contract and fully equipped with a state-of-the-art recording studio, Soulive has embraced the new music business model by launching their own record label, Royal Family Records. With a focus on digital distribution, the label will be an outlet for all Soulive recordings - including their most recent EP release, "Up Here", as well as numerous Soulive-affiliated and nurtured projects. To dig deeper into the Soulive sound and find out more about the band's various projects, visit www.Soulive.com.
Opening for Soulive will be Ogden-based Shaky Trade, formed in 2004 by childhood friends Billy Bommer (saxes, vocals), Greg Shaw (bass), and Simon Crompton (guitar). Picking up their respective instruments in high school, the trio played in and around the Utah scene with several local groups before recruiting Chris Clemons (brass, vocals) and Michael Wong (drums) to the band's ranks. The five were able to find common ground and inspiration in groups as disparate as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish, and Jurassic 5, and a potent sound began to take shape, evolving with the addition of members Brad Wright (guitar) and Ryan Conger (keyboards).
Consisting of fresh horn licks, a rock solid rhythm section, and tasty melodies, the group quickly established a fiercely loyal fanbase. After releasing their self-titled debut album in early 2007, Shaky Trade continued performing relentlessly, garnering a reputation for their sweaty live shows and tightly constructed tunes that continued with last November's release of "Code Green." To sample Shaky Trade's music and find out more about these talented local artists, head over to the band's official website, www.ShakyTrade.com.
Tickets to the following day's 2009 MLS All-Star Game remain on sale, with prices starting at $35 (KFC Colonel's Corner, North Goal, South Goal and Upper Deck), and continuing at $45 (Corner Flag), $60 (Lower Sidelines), $105 (Front Row and Midfield) and $200 (Club Seats). To purchase tickets for the MLS All-Star Game's first visit to Utah, please visit www.RioTintoStadium.com, call 1-800-838-3380, or visit the Rio Tinto Stadium Box Offic, open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time.
