The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced that tickets are now on sale for an exclusive area appearance by the touring concert experience Kiss the Sky: Ultimate Hendrix Tribute, with special guests Heavy Cream.
Scheduled for Saturday, October 13 at 8 p.m., the one-night engagement is presented as part of the 2018-2019 Performing Arts Series at Monmouth. It’s the inaugural appearance at the Pollak Theatre for Kiss the Sky (KST), the acclaimed band fronted by guitarist and vocalist Jimy Bleu — as well as for Heavy Cream, the Philadelphia-based Cream tribute band that spotlights the skills of 17 year old guitar phenom Billy “The Kid” Thoden as Eric Clapton.
Formed in homage to the fiftieth anniversary of “Are You Experienced,” the game-changing debut album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, KST took its name from a memorable lyric in the psychedelic anthem “Purple Haze” — and its energy from the legacy of the Seattle-born southpaw who, with his British bandmates Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, completely transformed the blues-rock template for all time; supercharging the evolution of heavy metal music, while fusing Delta blues, Dylan folk, electric funk, garage-rock rave-ups, and galactic jazz into a supernova that burned so briefly and brightly at the close of the 1960s.
At the center of this “Re-Experience” is Jimy Bleu, a veteran studio and touring musician and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. A lifelong Hendrix fan who actually met his idol as a teen, the left-handed guitarist has staked a claim to performing more shows as a Hendrix tribute artist than anyone else over the course of nearly fifty years — first with the Voodoo Child Revue, and more recently as the star of KTS, in which he’s joined by in-demand session players AJ Hager (bass) and Ted Edwards (drums).
For the October 13 event at Monmouth, Billy Thoden teams with bandmates Dion Paci and Steve Iannetoni (channeling the classic rhythm section of Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker) for an evening-opening salute to “Wheels of Fire,” the 1968 double-LP blues rock milestone that yielded the Cream classics “White Room” and “Born Under a Bad Sign.” Kiss the Sky follows Heavy Cream with a set devoted to “Electric Ladyland” — Hendrix’s boundary-busting contribution to the soundtrack of the tumultuous year 1968, and a two-record set that boasted such masterworks as “Crosstown Traffic” and his re-imagining of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.”
The second of three KST sets finds the band augmented by additional musicians for a salute to Band of Gypsys, the post-Experience project that teamed Hendrix with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox. A closing “Best of Hendrix” set finds Thoden (as Clapton) joining Jimy and company for a finale that promises such signatures as “Foxy Lady,” “Stone Free,” and “Machine Gun.”
Adding to the total experience for both Heavy Cream and Kiss the Sky is the scrupulous attention to detail that finds the musicians attired in precise reproductions of the original bands’ outfits, while performing on period-perfect gear that includes stacks of vintage amps. And, while there may never be another Hendrix, there’s a special thrill in watching Jimy Bleu rekindle the onstage pyrotechnics that made Jimi a true musical colossus; one whose power and influence continue to leave audiences awe-struck and spellbound.
Tickets for the October 13 concert featuring Kiss the Sky are priced at $25 and $35, with a Gold Circle seating option of $50, and can be reserved through the Monmouth University Box Office at 732-263-6889, or online at www.monmouth.edu/MCA. Tickets for other upcoming Performing Arts events — including the Latin-infused classic rock of Terry Ilous and the Vagabonds (October 19), and the deep-cut Beatles explorations of The Weeklings (November 8) — are also on sale now. To schedule interviews, please contact Kelly Barratt at 732-263-5114.
