The Oakland, Calif., horn band Tower of Power played the first of two shows Monday night at the City Winery in Ponce City Market, and landed on the 350-seat club like a force of nature.
After 10 players, including five horns, blew the cobwebs out of the corners with tunes including “You Got to Funkifize” and “Oakland Stroke,” leader Emilio Castillo told the cheering audience that the official birthday for the band was Aug. 13, 1968, exactly 50 years earlier.
Castillo also briefly mentioned a horrific train collision that nearly ended half the band’s rhythm section.
On Jan. 12, 2017, drummer David Garibaldi and bassist Marc van Wageningen were struck by an Amtrak train as they walked across tracks in the Embarcadero area of Oakland, on their way to a gig at their regular stomping ground, Yoshi’s.
Garibaldi incurred head and facial injuries and van Wageningen suffered broken bones and internal injuries. The bassist spent two months in intensive care.
(While the two were recovering, substitute members filled in, including regular bassist Francis Rocco Prestia. Prestia was scheduled to perform with the band in Atlanta, but retired from touring shortly after those plans were announced.)
On Monday Garibaldi and van Wageningen performed a high-energy 90-minute-plus set at the City Winery, and seemed at ease.
“These two had an encounter with a train,” said Castillo to Monday’s crowd. “I’m happy to report the train lost.”
Tower of Power
8 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) Aug. 14. $65-$78. City Winery Atlanta, 650 North Ave., Ponce City Market, Atlanta. 404-946-3791,citywinery.com/atlanta/.
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