Disco Biscuits : Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL 5/05/2006

Coming three years after the Disco Biscuits’ last full concert in Chicago, expectations ran high for the band’s performance at the Vic Theater. On the two previous evenings in Wisconsin the Philadelphia-based group played before half-full houses, but for long-slighted Midwestern Disco Biscuits fans a concert the band billed as a “Friday Night Freak Out” was a must-see affair and attendance was solid.

The Disco Biscuits opened the show with “Caterpillar,” the only song in their catalog with an electronic drum loop, and the driving performance set the tone for the evening. The three-song stretch that followed revealed the improved drumming of Allan Aucoin who joined the group last November and is appearing to find his niche in the group’s segue-heavy jam style. Trancefusion – the band’s term for its electronica stylings – reigned during this run and peaked at a raging 4/4 techno jam in “Rock Candy.” “Spectacle” had a deliciously subdued opening and closed the set on a calm note.

Set two opened with one of those incredible rock and roll moments that one can only hope was inspired on a late night in Amsterdam. Playing in the hometown of Umphrey’s McGee – festival mates at the recent Jam in the Dam – the Disco Biscuits opened with a cover of their “In the Kitchen,” a song that notably name checks the Second City. Only moments later fans began receiving exclamatory text messages from friends at Philadelphia’s Electric Factory where Umphrey’s McGee was simultaneously covering the Disco Biscuits’ “Home Again.” Back in Chicago “In the Kitchen” went on a long trancefusion spin before a surprising segue into the end of “Basis for a Day” and then a return to “Kitchen.”

A lengthy “Astronaut” was the highlight of a high-energy second set, one that closed fittingly with one of the Disco Biscuits’ most electronica-indebted songs, “Spacebirdmatingcall.” The encore was a half-hour long, which left some fans disappointed when it proved not to be a third set, but it was a hot dance-fest just the same. “Munchkin Invasion” evolved into another 4/4 techno jam and sandwiched a new song, “The Great Abyss,” an instrumental written since Aucoin joined the band and a strong representation of the new Disco Biscuits sound.

For more info see: discobiscuits.com

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