Higher Ground’s Ballroom is a 750-capacity room, and it is exactly the right size for a band playing the kind of music The Hip Abduction plays. Not a festival field where the groove gets swallowed — just enough room for a multi-piece world-fusion ensemble to stretch out, and enough intimacy that you feel every pivot from Afrobeat to reggae to dub.
The St. Petersburg, Florida collective brings their Into the Wild Tour to Higher Ground on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. Doors open at 7:30 PM, show at 8:00 PM. All ages.
About The Hip Abduction
The Hip Abduction formed in 2010 out of a shared obsession with West African rhythms and early Jamaican reggae and dub, and you can still hear that foundation in the live set. Lead vocalist and songwriter David New anchors the band alongside Matt Poynter on drums, Chris Powers on bass, Justino Walker on guitar, vocals, and ngoni, and Cody Moore on keys and sax. The band describes the music as “evoking the ocean and guided by the spirit of travel” — and live, that tracks.
They debuted at number five on the Billboard Reggae charts, earned major TV and movie syncs plus Sirius XM airplay, and have over 750,000 monthly Spotify listeners. Their single Children of the Sun has been a calling card. They’ve done cross-country support runs with Dirty Heads, Galactic, Slightly Stoopid, and The Revivalists, and played Red Rocks Amphitheatre on May 17 — just a few weeks before this Vermont stop.
The June 9 show opens the Northeast leg of the tour, which runs through June 20. Will Evans is listed as a special guest for this date.
Higher Ground | South Burlington, VT
Higher Ground holds 750 in its Ballroom and sits at 1214 Williston Rd in South Burlington — easy to reach from Burlington proper and a reliable anchor for live music in the North Country. More information at highergroundmusic.com.
Tickets
Tickets are on sale now. This is an all-ages show. Get tickets →