Gogol Bordello at Webster Hall

Eugene Hütz was born Yevgeniy Aleksandrovich Nikolayev-Simonov in Boyarka,  Ukraine, where his father played guitar in one of Ukraine's first rock bands, Meridian. At age 14, Hütz and his father constructed his first guitar of plywood, his first distortion pedals out of radio parts, and his first drum set from large metal fish cans, skinned with layers of adhesive tape. Hütz became a member of the band Uksusnik (Vinegar Tap). After the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, however, the family fled the Ukraine and traveled like their gypsy descendents through Poland, Hungary, Austria and Italy before gaining  refugee status in the United States and landing in Vermont in 1992. There, Hütz formed the punk band the Fags. He then relocated to New York City and began forming Hutz and the Bela Bartoks, which quickly evolved into Gogol Bordello. Gogol Bordello's seventh and most recent album is 2017's Seekers and Finders. The band presently consists of Hütz (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion), Sergey Ryabtsev (violin, backing vocals), Boris Pelekh (guitar, backing vocals), Thomas "Tommy T" Gobena (bass, backing vocals), Alfredo Ortiz (drums), Pedro Erazo (percussion, MC), and Ashley "TOBI" Tobias (backing vocals, percussion).

Gogol Bordello ended 2019 by bringing its Gangs of New York 20th Anniversary Tour to Webster Hall for two nights. With no new album to promote, the sets were a retrospective featuring songs spanning the band's 20 years of recordings. The colorfully-dressed musicians ran, jumped and hopped all over the large stage, providing a most visually stimulating stage show to accompany its eclectic, heart-racing music. In the same manner that Hütz embraced his gypsy roots in the creation of music for Gogol Bordello, the other six musicians, hailing from four countries, likewise brought elements of their ethnicities to the mix. Latin American, African and Euro-Asian rhythms were accelerated and given extra voltage. Hütz sang most of the vocals, Ryabtsev's violin played lead on most songs, but there was too much going on in each song to spotlight any one musician; soon after a song slipped into a dub, polka or hip hop groove, the song transitioned into something else. The concert ended with Hütz trading vocal licks with rapper Marty Baller, the concert's support artist, as the band members walked through the audience greeting the fans. Gogol Bordello's high-energy performance rocked in volcanic eruptions. Few bands are this dynamic live.

Setlist:

1. Never Young
2. Not a Crime
3. Immigrant Punk
4. Wonderlust King
5. Saboteur Blues
6. My Companjera
7. Alcohol
8. Rebellious Love
9. 60 Revolutions
10. Trans-Continental Hustle
11. Immigraniada (We Comin' Rougher)
12. (Unknown)
13. Passport
14. Through the Roof 'n' Underground
15. Sacred Darling
16. Last One Goes the Hope
17. Illumination
18. Start Wearing Purple
19. Sally
20. Pala Tute

Encore:

1. Baro Foro / Undestructable
2. Wonderlust King Mix (with Marty Baller)
3. Coyote (with Marty Baller)