Reignwolf at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, a two-year-old Jordan Cook began strumming his father's Fender Stratocaster. His father responded by buying his son a size-appropriate guitar. By age five, the child prodigy played afternoon jam sessions at a local blues club. When the boy was nine years old, his father secured permits so his underage son could play in bars, then drove him and his band of elementary school friends to gigs throughout western Canada. At age 15, Cook formed a blues-rock trio that traveled to Switzerland to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival. He recorded an album, Seven Deadly Sins, released under his own name in 2010, and in 2011 moved to Seattle, Washington, where his Reignwolf persona was born. Reignwolf is both a power trio and Cook playing solo with an electric guitar and a bass drum. Either way, Reignwolf concerts caught a major buzz. Reignwolf was declared one of "10 New Artists You Need to Know" by Rolling Stone in 2014, allowing Reignwolf to open arena concerts without releasing an album. Reignwolf released its debut album, Hear Me Out, on March 1, 2019. The band currently consists of vocalist/guitarist Cook, bassist S.J. Kardash, and drummer Joseph Braley.

Reignwolf welcomed 2020 with a nearly two-hour New Year's Eve performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. Initially the trio hardly could be seen for all the billowing fog and minimal stage lighting, as Cook moved quickly across the stage while playing fast, fuzzy, and distorted guitar leads. Throughout the performance, the song structures were rooted in blues, infused with harsh and heavy arrangements. The sound was intentionally raw and unrefined, played at high volume with even higher energy. Cook shouted his lyrics while ripping through gritty sounding guitar licks and riffs. Cook's rhythm section powered the momentum. Cook played to the audience, eventually moving the band and the musical instruments into the audience itself; he even asked for volunteers from the audience to move his amplifier to the back of the venue. The 19-song setlist introduced one new song, "Almost Midnight." Perhaps because it was Reignwolf's New Year's Eve party, many of the songs were excessively jam-filled, to the point where a listener could ask where this was building. Otherwise, the raucous nature of the performance made for a wild, rocking entrance into 2020.

Setlist:

1. I Want You
2. Alligator
3. Monster
4. Son of a Gun
5. Neighbors
6. In the Dark
7. Black and Red
8. Wanna Don't Wanna
9. Juice Box
10. Almost Midnight
11. Lonely Sunday
12. Electric Love
13. Ritual
14. Are You Satisfied?
15. Bicycle
16. Over and Over
17. Hardcore
18. Old Man
19. Dead of Night