If you have been waiting for a reason to make the drive up to South Burlington, here is one worth the trip: Higher Ground has The Dip booked for Tuesday, June 30, and this is exactly the kind of show you want to catch in a room this size. Doors open at 7:30 PM — get there early, because the Showcase Lounge fills up and The Dip draws a crowd that knows what it came for.
The Dip is a Seattle-based six-piece dealing in rhythm and blues with a full three-piece horn section — trumpet and two saxophones — wrapped around Tom Eddy’s vocals and guitar. One live reviewer described the experience as creating “an irresistible desire to shake my hips and move my body,” which, yes, that is exactly right. They have headlined sold-out rooms at the Fillmore San Francisco and Brooklyn Steel, played Bonnaroo and Outside Lands, and toured alongside Lake Street Dive and The Black Pumas. The résumé is real.
Their latest studio record is Love Direction, out July 2024 on Dualtone Records — their fourth full-length and a follow-up to Sticking With It, which hit number one on the Billboard Current R&B Albums Chart. The new album is a more interior thing: eleven tracks picking through the complicated middle stages of relationships, the parts that do not fit neatly into a hook. They recently released THE DIP LIVE! as a double LP, and if you want to know what this band sounds like in a room, that record will tell you. They played Burlington about a year ago. If you caught it, you already know. If you did not, June 30 is the correction.
Higher Ground’s Showcase Lounge holds 750, which puts you close to the stage without feeling squeezed. Support comes from Tre Charles. No age restrictions listed.
Tickets run $25–$30. Doors at 7:30 PM, show at 8:00 PM. Grab your tickets here before they go. More live music coming to the North Country region all summer.