Galactic
October 31, 2026
The Fillmore
Trick or treat…..who dat?!! Galactic that’s who.
The New Orleans jam-bassadors of Cajun-inspired funk-jazz zydeco camped out at The Fillmore for a scary good Halloween weekend of fire and devils and musical alchemy, sparking dance-infused revelry in the process.
Decked out for the holiday, the vibe at The Fillmore was all party from the get-go, and fans in attendance held up their end by showing up hyped and dressed for the occasion. There were ghosts, goblins, and fire set across the stage to set the mood, along with creatures of the night of all shapes, sizes, and colors in the crowd to animate the room.
If you have not experienced Galactic, it’s an absolute party. Every time. The recipe is easy: Galactic brings bombastic musical and rhythmic mastery, and their fans add a dash of heat and dance-fueled energy. Add in a heavy dose of Halloween magick to stir the pot, and serve it up piping hot!
This spooky night, all the ingredients mixed just right as Galactic went interstellar, playing 100 minutes of off-the-hinges funk that turned the cool autumn San Francisco evening into a humid dance party.
When they took the stage, Galactic just plain took over. Dressed in black hooded robes, Jeff Raines (guitar), Robert Mercurio (bass), Rich Vogel (organ), Ben Ellman (sax), and Eric Gordon (trumpet) walked on stage before drummer Stanton Moore, dressed perfectly as himself, entered.
Then, making her own introduction to the buzzing crowd was captivating vocalist Angelika “Jelly” Joseph, dressed in a cherry-red skin-tight devil costume and accessorized with strikingly hypnotic contacts that made it look like she was looking through everything at which she gazed.
Just as there is never too much goodness that goes into preparing an authentic Cajun meal, Galactic takes the same approach to their musical presentation. Using the stage as a musical stove, the band had three pots simmering and tended to them all in a nonstop procession.
On the front burner was Galactic with Jelly Joseph in control front and center. It’s crazy to think that she has been performing with the crew for seven years now. Not surprising is the fact that they are such a well oiled machine when she takes the mic.
This night she was on her game as she owned the stage with her commanding and soulful vocal style and devilishly impish stage persona. All that fire was particularly on display during upbeat, funkified Galactic fan-favorites such as “Where I Belong,” “Hey Na Na,” and “Higher and Higher” as Jelly prowled the stage and belted out powerful vocals as effortlessly as if she were whispering in the ear of The Fillmore.
But that was just the pot on the front burner. Stirring things up in pot number two was Galactic, the instrumental funk/jazz/rock juggernaut. Fueled by the insanely talented Stanton Moore behind the drum kit, the band jumped into the abyss and fell up — lifting the crowd with them.
Beyond his unparalleled skills, Moore is one of the most energetic drummers in the world. When letting loose on instrumental excursions, his locked-in polyrhythmic meter drives the Galactic spacecraft with such precision that it pushes all the other instruments to higher heights and literally pops Stanton off of his drum throne as he accents a crack of his snare or a crash of his cymbals.
The dynamic drum/bass chemistry between Moore and Mercurio supporting the over-the-top layering of Rich Vogel on organ and Jeff Raines’s sprawling guitar is a potion that is uniquely Galactic.
Instrumentals are always huge crowd favorites for a Galactic show, and on this night, the band had the goods. While “Balkan Wedding,” with its Middle Eastern flavor, had the joint swinging, the groove-laden “Crazyhorse Mongoose,” driven hard by the brass interplay of Ben Ellman’s sax and Eric Gordon’s trumpet, raised the room temperature at least a few degrees as folks grooved and drank and grooved and drank like there was no tomorrow.
With the first two pots simmering, Galactic fixed up pot number three with the frightfully tasty spice of the Halloween theme of fire and devils. This manifested in a series of cover songs to match the motif, all served with that incendiary New Orleans flair as Jelly and the band cast a spell over The Fillmore.
There were several “no way they are playing this” moments of musical mastery. Early in the set, it was a hot and heavy cover of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell.” Later it was a bedeviled rendition of The Doors’ classic “Light My Fire” and a witchy version of Beck’s “Devil’s Haircut.” Lastly, a possessed take of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” rocked the house like a Halloween earthquake.
After a brief stroll off stage to catch their collective breath, Galactic were summoned back to take the congregation home with one last explosive cover, this time ladling out the home cooking of “Fire on the Bayou” (The Meters) to hypnotize and bewitch the crowd in funk and fire before releasing them out into the cool San Francisco night.
Opening the Halloween festivities was special guest Parlor Greens, a powerful three-piece instrumental outfit comprised of Jimmy James on guitar, Adam Scone spectacularly manning the Hammond B3, and Tim Carman front and center on the drums.
Every member of this trio is an expert at their respective instruments, and together they put out an immense amount of sound which filled the room and swayed the crowd from the moment they appeared. Be on the lookout as Parlor Greens take to stages across the country this winter in support of their 2026 record Emeralds (Colemine Records). You won’t be disappointed.
