The last time G. Love (Garret Dutton) and Special Sauce played The Coach House, they felt like they blew out the venue in support of their rollicking and rock-heavy album Love Saves the Day. They’re fond of the intimate, mostly seated venue, and have played it numerous times over their 20-year career, but Dutton says this tour—which will feature their greatest hits and deep cuts from their catalog of rock, R&B and hip hop music—is much more suited to the San Juan venue.
“Every show (on this tour) is completely different and custom tailored to the room as opposed to a standard show we take on the road,” Dutton said.
It’s been 20 years since G. Love and Special Sauce burst onto the music scene with their signature sound. Albums have ranged from drippy R&B tunes to plucky acoustic front porch songs to the simply poppy and catchy, all while retaining the signature G. Love sound.
Call it a product of the times, but Dutton has—to mixed reaction—taken to social media recently to speak up for those in the progressive movement. He said it’s cost him some fans, but since his days as a young protestor, social justice has always been important to him.
“Certainly its reflected in my music,” Dutton said. “Go back and listen, and you’re going to find social and political commentary. If you (didn’t think I had a political opinion), you haven’t been listening.”
Dutton, who lived steps away from the site of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, used the tragedy as an example for the urgency with which musicians and those with a microphone need to stick up for the righteous.
“Isn’t it funny how there could be a bomb in Boston by immigrant kids and yet Boston was the first city to say, ‘No we’re not going to uphold the travel ban. Everyone come in,’” he said.
But music speaks for itself, and more than anything, Dutton said, it unites.
“When we go on stage, we’re there to throw down,” he said. “We’re there to bring a night of the hip hop blues and let it all hang out for two hours.”
The show is Friday, March 10. Tickets for the show start at $32.50, and the show starts at 8 p.m., with doors open at 6 p.m. The Coach House Concert Hall. 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 949.496.8930.
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