By: David Schultz

New York City never lacks for quality concerts on New Year’s Eve: Patti Smith can always be found on the Lower East Side at the Bowery Ballroom, Gov’t Mule usually hitches their post further north and this year, My Morning Jacket headlined Madison Square Garden. For the past three years, U-Melt has offered a late night addendum to the annual festivities, starting their set while most of Manhattan crawls into bed and customarily jamming to the break of dawn. This year, U-Melt moved from the after hours to the main event, ringing in the New Year at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, New Jersey with special guests BuzzUniverse, The Point and guitarist Keith Kenny.

Originally scheduled to take place at The Stone Pony, the venue where local boy Bruce Springsteen first practiced his craft, the Asbury Park extravaganza had to relocate down the street due to unfinished repairs. Opening with Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ In The Years,” U-Melt - Zac Lasher (keys), Rob Salzer (guitar), Adam Bendy (bass) and George Miller (drums) - peppered their first set with both parts of “A Robbins Tale” and disconnected versions of “Schizophrenia” and “Red Star” Undaunted by the change of venue, U-Melt flourished in the excitement of the waning moments of 2008, shifting quickly into “Auld Lang Syne” as the final grains of sand passed through the hourglass. We’ll discount the fact that they announced 2009 about a minute early; their timing will be much better for 2010.

Prior to U-Melt’s set, New Jersey’s own BuzzUniverse played a marvelous eighty-minute set that gradually and assuredly got the growing crowd into the spirit of the evening. Fresh off of playing one of the final sets at New York City’s Knitting Factory, BuzzUniverse took the Asbury Park stage as a lean, stripped down four piece, with guitarist Alex Garay, drummer Dave Migliore, bassist Greg McLoughlin and saxophonist Brian Ciufo broadening the confines of the intimate stage with grooves like “Hydroponic Boogie,” “In The Sun” and “Hour.” BuzzU’s expertly wrought tunes are perfect for making guests feel welcome on their stage. At their Jingle Jam Christmas party, Jason Crosby seamlessly worked his violin into “This Ol’ Cowboy” and “Earth Is Moving” and on New Years, Lasher provided a potent dose of keys on “Round And Round.”

Seeing as U-Melt wavered slightly from tradition this year by moving their New Year’s after-hours set to prime time, I too will adjust with the times. Every year around this time, I implore you to make listening to U-Melt a part of your New Year’s resolutions; I do not waver on that point but I will broaden it to include BuzzUniverse, another band that is worthy of your attention. Get on this: Now!

Labels: BuzzUniverse, U-Melt