STS9, Blackalicious: Edgefield, Troutdale, OR 8/22/08

A true test of a band’s flexibility relates to their ability to adapt to their environments by playing the crowd’s taste in a given city, and using the time of day and location of the venue to get the biggest response from the audience. Sound Tribe Sector 9, who tend to thrive in a late night dance party setting, had the challenge of adapting their style to meet the sunshine soaked outdoor vibe of Troutdale Oregon’s Edgefield. STS9 was teamed up with hip hop mainstays Blackalicious, which was an interesting pairing that wound up working out splendidly. What seemed like a potential challenge became a musical triumph, as Portland’s faithful were treated to a grand performance that received high praise from most outgoing concert patrons.  

The Edgefield, located twenty minutes outside of Portland, is an amazing venue on the land of the refurbished “Multnomah County Poor Farm” from the early 1900’s. In the past it was a communal farm that did everything from raising animals, to packing and canning vegetables, to sustaining its own hospital. Now the Pacific Northwest bar barons the McMenamin Brothers have converted it to a huge adult playground, that contains a multi hole golf pitch and putt that surrounds the manor house, a tucked away Jerry Garcia Bar that is as much a shrine to the man as it is a cathedral to the finer aspects of the distillery nearby, a hotel and restaurant, and host of an array of intricately designed murals of insanely psychedelic art splattered on everything. In other words, it was a perfect setting for a daytime STS9 dance party.
 
When Blackalicious took the stage the venue was just starting to fill in. The sun was shining down, as the beats were dropped. The Gift of Gab grabbed the mic and began to do his thing, and the audience ate it up. He was backed up by two female vocalists, and as always his talented D.J. / Producer Chief Xcel. His use of fluid rhymes, dynamic beats, and the ever present call and response got the energy up for the impending STS9 dance party.

Following a short intermission for breakdown and setup, Sound Tribe took to the stage to a rousing reception. It was still quite early in the day and the sunshine and beautiful surround Oregon scenery seemed to inspire the boys to bring a more organic and old school approach. It seemed early on in the set that most of the material was from earlier albums, and some of their tendencies of layering futuristic jams were trimmed down to fit the outdoor surrounding. Seeing a band adapt to their surrounding this way was impressive, and seemed to create a tight musical pocket for all in attendance. People were all flailing about in rhythm, and it was quite the sight to see.

Opening with the hauntingly familiar "Looking Back at Earth" into a fiery "Evasive/Kamuy," STS9 kept their energy high throughout their set (as is their tendency). I really enjoyed the "Peaceblaster 68 >Peaceblaster 08" combo (which also is the title of their newest album) that seemed to symbolize the dichotomist nature of STS9’s ability of taking an old school groove, such as the "68" segment, that is oh so tasty, and transforming it into something that could be the soundtrack behind the futuristic landscape of an Isaac Asamoff book.  

We may have only had a couple of night time jams to close our eyes and fade into the darkness, but the overall vibe was quite positive, and folks seemed genuinely impressed with what they heard as they filed out of the Edgefield. I know I was, and Sound Tribe’s ability to use the setting they were given to tap into and harness an energy that may have not been their forte, was quite remarkable.

Related Content

Recent Posts

New to Glide

Keep up-to-date with Glide

Twitter