What is hip? Tower of Power still is

• Are you ready to party?
• YEAH!
• Are you sure?
• YEAH!
• We got one problem: You people look waaaaay too comfortable in those chairs…

After an hour of densely packed, hectic and almost constantly high-energy concert, the 75-year-old Emilio “Mimi” Castillo looks like someone who could easily play for many more hours.

He has barely warmed up yet, and is jumping around the stage like a man closer to 40 than 75 – and now the audience simply has to get up and clap and dance for the last third of the concert. With “Diggin’ on James Brown” leading the way, and a particularly fierce version of the signature tune “What Is Hip?”, to go home half an hour later. Throughout every single song, the audience has felt far more than just entertained.

You get swept along, pulled into the very special universe that Tower of Power has built up through a unique and very personal blend of soul, funk, big band, swing, jazz, crystal-clear pop and a touch of gospel. In the wildest and most joyful numbers, you can’t help thinking that Tower of Power sounds like a band that has escaped from the cult film “Blues Brothers” – because they have much of the same life-affirming devil-may-care attitude when they really let loose.

But the 10 musicians also demand something from the audience. First and foremost, that you remember to fasten your seatbelt. Because in under 13 minutes they tear through a highly hectic mix of the manifesto “We Came To Play”, “Soul With A Capital S” and “You Ought to be Havin’ Fun”, and even though these three – like much of the rest of the repertoire – have been around since the 70s, Tower of Power approach them with great freshness, as if they are only just getting to know them and keep finding new ways to play with them and get more out of them.

But the greatest love for a single number is shown in the first and oldest song in the repertoire, the quiet, beautiful “You’re Still A Young Man”, which they really take their time with, lavishing attention on every detail with one fine, accomplished solo after another. Overall, plenty of space has been made for most of the musicians to shine in turn – not just the five more-than-capable horn players, but also keyboardist Mike Jerel and guitarist Jerry Cortez.

And Jordan John truly burns through as singer, showman and something of a ringmaster, constantly keeping the audience on their toes. He is here, and there and everywhere, not only with his singing but with introductions, commands, declarations, little stories – and at one point, he also jumps down into the audience to finish a song. Or grabs an audience member’s phone to film a couple of the next solos as a special memento.

For the vast majority of the time, Tower of Power rolls steadily forward with the throttle wide open. This is simply fierce funk-pop with plenty of swinging horns right up front, and that is also why it feels good when the band occasionally holds back, eases down and finds time for a more restrained gem like the supremely beautiful “Below Us, All The City Lights”.

One of the most impressive things about Tower of Power is almost the fact that they have managed to keep themselves and their music relevant. After no fewer than 58 years – still with the two founders, Emilio Castillo and the 80-year-old Stephen “Doc” Kupka, “The Funk Doctor”, at the centre – they have preserved the style and sound as a musical joie de vivre that feels at once loose and straightforward and playful, and at the same time highly structured.

It is a pleasure to witness musicians who have such complete command of all their tools, no matter how complex the compositions are, and can make it all click into place. That is also why it feels almost unnatural not to remove the front rows of seats and replace them with a dance floor. Because it is virtually impossible to sit still at Tower of Power in 2026. They sound nothing like an orchestra that will, in a few years, be rounding yet another sharp corner in a long, truly impressive career.

Tower of Power, seen at Musikkens Hus, Aalborg, Denmark, Sunday 31 May 2026.