XPN Fest Recap: Tank And The Bangas send the crowd into a vortex of chaos and joy

Tank and the Bangas | photo by Ashley Gellman for WXPN | agellmanphotos.com

The New Orleans-based Tank and the Bangas can be described as a tribe of truly passionate artists with immense, generous talent and massive amounts of energy — it all showed on stage.

Everyone in the vicinity was not ready for the vortex of crazy we were about to enter. The band’s stage presence, especially frontwoman Tarriona “Tank” Ball’s, was electrifying as they performed a beautiful, chaotic explosion of genres from hip-hop to funk to hard rock, with covers from Anderson .Paak’s funky bop “Come Down” to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Tank is probably the most expressive lead singer I’ve ever watched perform. Her stage persona was eccentric and all over the place, transitioning from fast-paced theatrical spoken word, spirit-churning soulful singing, and effortlessly wild dance moves. Providing context through expression and movements, she wasn’t the only one gettin’ down and dirty. Right hand Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph, saxophonist/ flutist Albert Allenback, drummer Josh Johnson, bass player Norman Spence and keyboardist Merell Burkett was right there beside her especially Allenback who was bumpin’ and grindin’ to every single beat.

The whirlwind of a performance ended with the Nirvana cover, and got the whole crowd to kick into maximum overdrive as everybody was singing and headbanging along. The emotional high they left in their wake remained and honestly, it really was an experience that no one in the audience will ever forget.

Check out photos of this epic, joyful performance below.