The Radiators
Tipitina’s
New Orleans, LA
January 16

The Radiators built their legacy rocking crowded neighborhood juke joints in the Crescent City and touring on the jamband circuit for decades, before formally parting ways almost six years ago. But, despite retiring from the road, the treasured Cajun rock-and-roll quintet has reunited for a few hometown gigs every January since 2011.

After two sold-out performances at Tipitina’s Uptown—night one included a sit-in by George Porter Jr.—Saturday’s festivities got underway at 11:11 p.m. Staying true to longtime Rads tradition, the “band of dreams and red beans” laid down a 1987 “mini-cut,” the slinky “Law of the Fish,” and then instructed attendees to get in the “Mood to Move.” The crowd was mostly composed of those who likely saw the Rads with fewer gray hairs onstage (and in the crowd), but younger fans weren’t in short supply by any stretch, and the multigenerational audience shared a communal affection for this legendary band.

Keyboardist Ed Volker can still play the role of frontman when he takes the spotlight, as he showed on the energetic, free-flowing blues rocker “Sparkplug.” Volker’s warm vocals encapsulate New Orleans soul, always drenched in a heavy Louisiana drawl.

It was hard not to draw comparisons to vintage Dire Straits when hearing the Rads blow through the swaggering “This Wagon’s Gonna Roll,” a roiling psych-blues that guitarist Camile Baudoin ripped through with pentatonic virtuosity.

The night’s highlight came at the end of the first set with “River Run,” featuring an extensive improvisational workout that found Baudoin and Dave Malone trading off rhythm and lead duties seamlessly, staying in lockstep in the groove.

The good times rolled on in the second set with the signature “Cocktail Music,” a quintessentially New Orleans rocker—and a song that arguably has one of the all-time great music videos. Set two’s take on The Rolling Stones’ boisterous “19th Nervous Breakdown” gave Reggie Scanlan a chance to tackle the tune’s descending bass dive bombs that Bill Wyman made famous.

Fans who made it through all three nights were likely in a midwinter fever dream—it was still hot inside—by the time the sixth and final set roared to a satisfying conclusion. You never know how many reunion runs are left, and those who packed the yellow house over a long weekend were handsomely rewarded and left with yet another lasting memory of hanging with the Rads, one of rock-and-roll’s best party bands on either side of the Mississippi.