by: Nick Mendell
Memorial Day Weekend was a big one for music lovers all across the country. From Phish opening their summer tour at the gorgeous venue that is Bethel Woods; to Widespread Panic and STS9 headlining Summer Camp; to Detroit Electronic Music Festival; to Lighting In A Bottle… the choices were many. For this guy, there was little doubt I would end up in Colorful Colorado. Even after an incredibly hectic day of travel that had my girlfriend and I stuck in Dallas,TX for the night (our trip originated in NYC), we know that our path was the right one. If we had any doubt at all, it was completely erased by the Red Velvet Pancakes at Snooze,and the $55 quarter of Blue Dream that was procured from our buddy’s local dispensary. Combine that with the $45 room at the Holiday Inn (thank you Priceline.com), and the hotel’s free shuttle to anywhere in the city, and we were feeling pretty good about our decision to spend the weekend in Mile High City… relaxin’ with the Disco Biscuits.
The band was slated to perform two nights at the intimate Ogden Theater before heading to Red Rocks for their annual Bisco Inferno. Opening with ‘The Very Moon’ was bittersweet for me, as I had hoped to get it “on the Rocks.” Always a beautiful number, the band played a short, but sweet version that was well received by the enthusiastic crowd. Having heard the epic version they played in April in NYC, this run through was a bit of a let down for me, but maybe that was just because I really wanted to hear it in Morrison. Next came ‘Voices Insane,’ which segued into an unfinished ‘Shem Ra Boo’,” then back into ‘Voices.’ Full disclaimer: I’m not the biggest ‘Voices’ fan but this segment was dope. Leaving ‘Shem Ra Boo’ unfinished had me thinking how much fun it would be for the band to play the elusive ending at Inferno, but that never materialized. Guess we will have to wait until Camp Bisco for that completion. To close the set was the ‘Overture.’ Full disclaimer: I’m a huge fan of this song, and this version was fire. It’s another composition that I wanted to hear at Inferno, but I’m glad it dropped when it did because it closed the first set of the run on an incredibly high note. Second set started with a huge ‘Park Avenue,’ which took on a very exploratory feel. I’ve always liked this number, and have been happy to see the band stretch it out over the last few years.
Next was the classic ‘Vassilios,’ followed by the [Conspirator] track ‘Orch Theme.’ Clocking in at over twenty minutes, this ‘Orch’ got deep much to the delight of the crowd. The rest of the set was pure Bisco with classics such as ‘Mr.Don’, the always majestic ‘Tricycle’, and one of my personal favorite tunes,’Shelby Rose.’ It seemed like this ‘Shelby’ had particular life breathed into it by a very refreshed looking Marc Brownstein. Word is Marc is totally sober, and its coming through beautifully in his playing. This ‘Shelby’ may be my favorite in years, with a great vocal delivery from Marc and an insane peak brought about by truly cohesive playing from the band. ‘Mulberry’s Dream’ was the perfect encore for this gig. It’s a fun Biscuits tune that expounds on the fun of “burning in the Sun on the side of the street.” I couldn’t help laugh about our fruitful trip to the dispensary earlier in the day as the band ran through this classic. After some much needed sleep, an amazing meal at Steubens (happy hour starts at 2pm), some running around the 16th street Mall, it was already time for night two. While there were some highlights in the first set, including a fun ‘Strobelights and Martinis’ opener, this show was all about the second Set. “Fire, the heat rocks, titties, epic”- whatever you want to call it, this set was it. Opening with ‘Papercut’ and dropping into ‘Crystal Ball’ was magic since the day earlier I was expounding on ‘Crystal Ball’ and its lyrical genius to a lovely girl, a new friend and newcomer to the Disco Biscuits scene. It was a fun moment to see her so excited as they dropped into it. I’ll never forget her elated shout of “this is the only song I know!” It was a classic Biscuits moment, one of many over the weekend. Next came the jaw dropping segment of ‘Memphis-Gangster-Lunar Pursuit-Aceetobee’ to close the set. For lack of a better description,this was “the epic, heat rock,titty-fire.” Such smooth, but exploratory Biscuits. Allen killed on the drums, Marc and Aaron laid beautiful foundations and Barber did what he does best… paint over the top of it all while taking it to the highest peak.
My first ‘Bazaar Escape’ since Camp Bisco 5 and a fun ‘Wet’ had me beyond stoked for what was to come the next day at the fabled Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Although the supporting cast at Inferno was solid (highlights for me being Emancipator’s set), the day belonged to the Disco Biscuits. Having been lucky enough to catch the first Inferno at Mishiwaka Amphitheatre in 2001, and the first headlining affair at Red Rocks in 2009, my mind was racing as to what they would play. Would it be a nod to the past,would there be any repeats, would Barber be playing the Gibson? On the drive from Denver to Morrison, I blasted the epic past Colorado jam of ‘Lunar Pursuit-Spraypaint Victory’ in the hopes that the band would paint the rocks for us. After a fiery ‘Highwire’ opener, I got my ‘Spraypaint Victory’, followed by the perfection of an inverted version of ‘Digital Buddah.’ Next was a raging ‘Cyclone’, followed by the always triumphant inverted ‘Confrontation.’ The band was literally playing my favorite tunes, in succession, in my favorite formats. My girl actually called audibles as they were inverting ‘Buddah’ and ‘Confrontation.’ The soreness in my legs (from jumping wildly) that I still feel three days later reminds me that this did actually happen. When they wrapped the set by completing ‘Spraypaint,’ I was literally out of breath and in an absolute state of bliss. The band played one of my favorite sets ever, in one of my favorite settings, surrounded by beautiful people. While the second set was great fun ( with ‘Spacebirdmatingcall’ being the highlight for me), there was nothing they could have done to top the energy of the first set. I’ve been incredibly blessed this year to see one of my favorite bands in some very nice places, while they’ve only played a few handful of shows. A solid hometown birthday gig in NYC, followed by a majestic second set and ‘Magellan’ encore the next night made my Spring, and now the Inferno run seems to have set the Summer up on the right foot. Camp Bisco can’t come soon enough…
Photo Credit: Evan Friedmann – LucidIlluminationTribe.com
[cincopa AQKAikav8Dx-]
Checkout some pictures of Bisco Inferno’s Ragers – Some classic rage gear along with some of Lost in Sound’s favorite people made these shots a no-brainer. Photo credit goes to Britt Chester [Westword.com], view the rest of the album here.
