Live at UPH: Saratoga Springs Show Brings Crowd To its Feet
Moonlight Benjamin performing at UPH in Saratoga Springs on
March 29, 2025. Multi exposure iPhone: Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — “When was the last time we had a Haitian voodoo priestess in town?” Proctors Collaborative Passport Series curator Mona Golub asked the crowd, introducing Moonlight Benjamin to the stage at Universal Preservation Hall on March 29.
Infused with the guttural boogie of two guitars, bass and drums, Moonlight Benjamin spilled Haitian Creole syllables backed by a catchy beat during a rollicking 90-minute performance with multiple encores in Saratoga Springs on Saturday night.
The lyrics fused French and African languages with a dash of Spanish, here, Portuguese and Aramaic, there. The music: a pastiche revelry merging garage blues with searing guitar runs. The audience expressed their love for every minute of it.
High marks to Universal Preservation Hall and Proctors Collaborative for bringing the seldom-heard-in-these-parts sounds to town and for providing audiences the opportunity to engage in the shared joy of music as being the ultimate coalescence of all souls.