Lettuce and GZA in Concert at Stage AE (Wed., 2/5/25)

Lettuce, a funk band from Boston active since 1992, were one of the older acts at Thrival Music Festival 2016 at Carrie Furnace. But the group’s songs, mostly tight instrumentals, won over the kids—the hipsterish crowd was soon grooving like a sea of veteran funkateers. The band toured to places as far as Tokyo before releasing its first studio album, 2002’s Outta Here. Its 2017 LP Witches Stew was recorded live at the Catskill Chill Music Festival in Lakewood, Pennsylvania in 2016. It pays homage to Miles Davis’s 1970 jazz-fusion masterpiece, Bitches Brew, and it even covers some songs from that record. No surprise that the musicians from Lettuce would tackle such a project: all are accomplished musicians with many having studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Their latest album, Unify, was released in 2022.

There’s a reason GZA (née Gary Grice) also goes by The Genius. He has had a life-long interest in science, especially quantum physics. His second solo album, 1995’s Liquid Swords, is often lauded by fans and critics alike as the paragon of lyrical prowess. Its reputation has only grown; over 20 years after its release, it went platinum. Plus, what topic won’t GZA rap about? He also champions science education for New York City high school students. With Columbia University Professor Christopher Emdin and the website Rap Genius, he helped to pilot Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bringing Attention to Transforming, Teaching, and Learning Science), an initiative which teaches science through hip hop. GZA is a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan, arguably the greatest hip hop group of all time. GZA hasn’t released an album since 2008, but he has been keeping busy with several projects including providing a voice role in Netflix’s “Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts” as Bad Billions. He even created a song for the series. A fun song/video of his is “Breaker Breaker” which has GZA driving around a tractor trailer with numerous speakers on the inside and outside. Stage AE. Doors open at 7 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (C.M., R.H.)

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