Technical difficulties are never something you want at a concert. But when a band can use them to their advantage, well then you have something special and rare. For the second night of their run at Riviera Theatre, Lotus came out to technical difficulties that seemed to frustrate them a bit and obscured the first few songs of the night. There was a noticeable distraction, yet, it only served to motivate them once they righted the ship. Once everything was figured out they just took off. They propelled through rest of the first set like a river burst through a levee and carried that momentum through a phenomenal second set. When you’ve been around as long and have as much talent as Lotus it doesn’t take much to spark some true creative inspiration. This time they seemed to explode with it.
It was a shame that the opening songs weren’t at full force because they played a couple of new songs — both of which used some great samples — that were a lot of fun. Some of Lotus’ more recent material has been very post rock-ish, a darker industrial side of Lotus that was completely new. But these two new songs, “Middle Road” and “Deep Inside The Mothership” were much softer around the edges. They were the soulful, groovy side of Lotus that seems to still resonate most with the fans.
But things weren’t 100% on point until they hit “Livingston Storm” in the middle of the set. You could see the stress clear from Jesse Miller’s face (it was his computer acting up) and they built a gorgeous release that went right back to the atmospheric & funky roots of this band. It was the only song of the first set that broke the 10-minute mark due to the extraordinary patience they demonstrated on the slow burning ascent, then riding the mellifluous wave for a few extra moments. The switch was flipped and from this song forward, Lotus was locked into one of the better shows I’ve ever seen from them.
The first set wrapped with a pair of songs that the audience swooned over. “Bush Pilot” is probably the best song from their latest album and it has really gained popularity with the fans. Well, if the pure volume of crowd reaction is any indication. Then they dialed it back a notch for “Age of Inexperience,” of their the softer, groovier tracks from Hammerstrike. The first set was a really well-crafted set of smooth, groove-oriented songs with very little of their newfound grit & darkness.
The second set began with “Hammerstrike,” a strong way to start any set. It’s funny how your mind can strongly associate music with a location, or a person, or in this case, the album artwork for this album. This song always evokes imagery of those potent bold colors, a perfect visual representation of the energy of this song. Then the relatively new “Neon Tubes” brought a completely different energy, a more laidback sexiness with a shade of R&B. It was the slick synth lines and big bass guitar lines that did it. Yet another angle was taken with the next song, “The Surf,” which is the indie-dance side of Lotus in a nutshell. It’s one of the few songs they play with fully sampled verses, but they’ve really grown this song in the live setting — it’s somehow become both faster and longer over the past year and a half.
This is where this show takes a hugely personal turn for me. The first Lotus album that got me absolutely hooked on them was Escaping Sargasso Sea. And early on it was clear that my favorite song on that album was “Mikesnack.” I’ve been chasing this particular song for about five years and this was the night I finally got it. When that unmistakable, looping Rempel guitar lick rolled out, I jumped & yelled like a fool. Finally getting that score after chasing a song forever is one of my favorite feelings in live music. This felt similar to the first time I heard Umphrey’s McGee play “Front Porch”… Let’s just say that after all that waiting, I was 100% satisfied with the “Mikesnack” I finally heard. This show was just stamped with a memory that will last a while.
It was around this point that I started noticing a particular sharpness coming from Mike Greenfield. He must have eaten his Wheaties because he was playing like a man possessed. I’ve always known he was a great drummer, but this was the moment where I knew he is a truly underrated drummer. He plays like a mix of Adam Deitch and Stanton Moore; he has the lightning quick fills & technical snap of Deitch, and the powerful funk groove of Moore. His work at the end of “Mikesnack,” in “Bellwether,” and especially in the massive “Jump Off” to end the set was as good as I’ve ever seen/heard from Greenfield.
That version of “Jump Off” was just ridiculous. It was gonna be tough to really top that, it was the apex of a massive wave that really spanned the entire set. That second set was just classic, fun, upbeat, dance-your-ass-off Lotus. But the encore came out with a much more post-rock attack. “Cain & Abel” is a moody song, a stark contrast from the bright explosion of “Jump Off.” It definitely missed the mark a little bit as the crowd was surprisingly subdued & quiet. But they brought the energy back up with “Intro To A Cell” to end the show. This one’s also a riff-driven post-rock song. More mechanical than atmospheric. But it evolved over its eight to nine minute length to a really beautiful collision of jam and post rock, a really technical composition that lead into that euphoric headspace anyhow. This type of sound is really one that is 100% unique to Lotus, which is why I think they really like putting this song in power positions in the setlist. It’s always the perfect song to send people off on a note of both power & grace.
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Set 1: Harps, Middle Road, In An Outline, Deep Inside The Mothership*, Livingston Storm, Uffi, Bush Pilot, Age Of Inexperience
Set 2: Hammerstrike, Neon Tubes, The Surf, Mikesnack, Bellwether, Arupa > Jump Off
Encore: Cain & Abel, Intro To A Cell
*debut
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DOWNLOAD THE SET HERE —> LIVEDOWNLOADS
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