Gary Lucas co-wrote “Grace” and “Mojo Pin” before Jeff Buckley ever recorded them. Both songs originated in Gods and Monsters’ 1991–92 songbook, years before they appeared on Buckley’s Grace. On Thursday, December 17, Lucas brings the reconvened power trio to Colony Woodstock: avant-rock guitar, free-jazz drumming, a room that holds 150 people, and the kind of improvisation-heavy night that critic Glenn Kenny called “generous sets were all fire.”
About the Show
Gary Lucas founded Gods and Monsters in 1989, naming the band from a line in the 1932 film The Bride of Frankenstein, and the group has been his primary vehicle for psychedelic jazz-rock ever since. Before the band, Lucas made his name as a guitarist with Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band. After a hiatus of several years, he reconvened Gods and Monsters in Fall 2024, debuting the current power trio lineup at Colony Woodstock that December. The 2026 run since has included Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, a Japan tour, and a September date at The Bitter End in New York City.
The current lineup features Ernie Brooks on bass (a Modern Lovers veteran who has also worked with Arthur Russell and performed alongside Lucas for more than 25 years) and G Calvin Weston on drums, whose credits span Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time, James Blood Ulmer, and John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. The group draws from psychedelic rock, blues, art-rock, and free jazz, with improvisation that can move a composition somewhere unexpected by the third bar. Music journalist David Fricke described the reconvened trio as “a power trio reborn” that “still sounds like the living late-show spirit of the Fillmore East.” Rolling Stone has called Lucas “one of the best and most original guitarists in America”; The New Yorker went with “the thinking man’s guitar hero.” He has released over 50 albums and toured in more than 40 countries.
Opening the night is Spaghetti Eastern, Sal Cataldi’s solo project mixing acid jazz-influenced guitar instrumentals, ambient soundscapes, and acoustic ballads. The New York Times noted that Cataldi “has a beat unmistakably his own.”
Venue & Logistics
Colony Woodstock is at 22 Rock City Road in Woodstock, in the Hudson Valley. At 150 capacity, it puts you close enough to the stage to catch every exchange between players. Gods and Monsters is a band that exchanges a lot. Doors open at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m. All ages; under-18 guests must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
Tickets
Tickets are $23–$29. No refunds. Buy tickets