Jam-band pioneers Blues Traveler bring their legendary live show to the Soul Kitchen Music Hall in downtown Mobile, with doors opening at 7 p.m. and music starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are a reasonable $28, and local act Johnny No — part of the SouthSounds 2014 lineup — opens the night.
The band broke out of college radio with its self-titled 1990 debut and has spent more than two decades building a reputation as one of live music’s most dependable draws. Casual fans will know the radio staples “But Anyway,” “Runaround” and “Hook.” Frontman John Popper is famous for taking the stage strapped with harmonicas in a dozen keys, unleashing solos at hypnotic speed — and occasionally flinging one into the crowd after a particularly hot solo, as he did when Blues Traveler played BayFest in Mobile.
Earlier this year the band headlined the Wanee Festival alongside the Allman Brothers Band, surprising that audience with covers of the Charlie Daniels Band’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” and Sublime’s “What I Got” — a reminder that no setlist is ever safe from reinvention when this crew is on stage.