Ripe are beginning the rollout for their forthcoming live album with a song that captures exactly why the Boston band has built its reputation onstage.
“Goon Squad,” featuring Allen Stone and recorded at Brooklyn Paramount, is the first preview of Live at Brooklyn Paramount. The complete 22-track album is scheduled for release July 31 through Ineffable Records and will also be accompanied by video from the performance.
The decision to lead with “Goon Squad” makes sense. Ripe’s music has always depended on movement, interaction and the feeling that the audience is participating rather than simply observing. A studio recording can capture the notes and arrangements, but a live version reveals how the band’s songs change once they are placed in front of a crowded room.
The Brooklyn performance adds Allen Stone to that equation. Stone’s soulful vocal style fits naturally beside Ripe’s funk-pop foundation, but the collaboration works because he does not simply arrive to sing over the band. His presence becomes part of the larger performance, feeding off the musicians and the audience while giving the song an additional burst of personality. Ripe have spent years developing that kind of chemistry. “Goon Squad” demonstrates that approach in real time. The live environment gives the song more room to breathe while preserving the tight musicianship at its center. Crowd noise and the energy of the venue are not distractions from the recording. They are part of the arrangement.
That communal quality is especially important to Ripe. The band has described collaboration and friendship as the center of its story, tracing its beginnings back to rehearsals in a basement beneath a Subway sandwich shop and the early days of selling tickets by hand. The scale has grown considerably, but the music still depends on the connection between the people playing it.
The forthcoming album offers Ripe an opportunity to present that connection more completely than a traditional studio project. Across 22 tracks, Live at Brooklyn Paramount can function as both a survey of the band’s catalog and a record of what those songs have become through years of performance.
It also arrives as Ripe prepares to return to the road. The band currently has 20 upcoming shows listed, including festival dates, outdoor summer concerts and multiple Northeast appearances.
For listeners who have only heard Ripe through studio recordings, “Goon Squad” offers an introduction to the band’s other, more live identity. For those who have already experienced the live show, it captures the sense of unpredictability and shared momentum that keeps audiences returning.
Tour Dates
- August 8 — Eagle River Jamboree — Eagle, CO
- August 9 — Lowell Summer Music Series — Lowell, MA
- August 11 — The Chicken Box — Nantucket, MA
- August 12 — The Chicken Box — Nantucket, MA
- August 14 — Bud Light Amphitheater at Paper Mill Island — Baldwinsville, NY
- August 15 — Stowe Cider — Stowe, VT
Early show: Doors at 5:00 PM, show at 6:00 PM - August 15 — Stowe Cider — Stowe, VT
Late show: Doors at 8:30 PM, show at 9:30 PM - August 16 — Bernie’s Beach Bar — Hampton, NH
- August 20 — Cape Cod Melody Tent — Barnstable, MA
- August 21 — Ocean Mist — South Kingstown, RI
- August 23 — South Shore Music Circus — Cohasset, MA
- August 26 — The Vogel at Count Basie Center for the Arts — Red Bank, NJ
- August 27 — Rocking the Docks Concert Series — Lewes, DE
- August 28 — The Rockaway Hotel — New York, NY
- August 29 — Spruce Street Harbor Park — Philadelphia, PA
Free show - September 17 — S.R. Butler Green — Huntsville, AL
805 After Five Concert Series — Free show - September 18 — Party in the Park at Fluor Field at the West End — Greenville, SC
- October 11 — The Ramble Festival — Darlington, MD
- November 14 — Brooklyn Arts District — Wilmington, NC
- February 6 — The Mission Ballroom — Denver, CO
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