Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Reunite!

Erin Bannen
Marketing Intern

While I was running a booth for the Wisconsin Union Theater at La Fete de Marquette last summer, I tried to guess which of our events people would be most excited by. I was predicting Pilobolus, which was certainly met with enthusiasm, but after three hours of random Madisonians seeing my billboard and squealing, "Béla Fleck and the Flecktones? Oh they are just FANTASTIC. When are they playing?!?!?" I realized that this demographic had something in it that I had not expected.

People reacted to the news of this group performing in the same way they would if they found out their favorite discontinued ice cream flavor, the only ice cream flavor they had ever really loved, was coming back for one weekend only. Who are these guys? I thought. And why is everyone in Madison so excited about them?

Wooten with his Drumitar

You know how they say a band has a sound so unique that you won't hear it anywhere else on earth? For Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, it's actually true. Calling the band genre-busting doesn't even begin to cut it. Their latest album, for example, goes from classical and jazz to bluegrass and African to electric blues and Eastern European folk dances. Roy “Futureman” Wooten literally invented a new instrument, the drumitar, which, though in the shape of a guitar, can replicate sounds of an entire contemporary drum kit. Howard Levy developed a fully chromatic style on the standard 10 - hole diatonic harmonica, revolutionizing harmonica playing and taking the instrument into totally new territory. Béla himself, considered the premier banjo player in the world, has been breaking banjo genres since he was 16 (see his full bio for more specifics). 

So that's two newly invented instruments played by the guys that invented them, and the world's most famous innovator on the banjo. If there is anything those Madisonians taught me at that fair, it is that there is no way I am missing a chance to hear this sound.

Below is an opportunity for you to hear from the band members themselves about the experience of coming back together to play with their original line-up, just for this one album and one tour. BTW, about a half of the house is already sold out. I recommend that you buy your tickets soon.