Review: Disco Biscuits Colorado Run
Disco Biscuits Colorado Run: 01/13 – 01/16
Words: Alex Wolff
Images: Jason Woodside
While it’s never the best idea to make a generalization, it does seem sometimes as though the entire state of Colorado is a sucker for a good party. Perhaps that’s why The Disco Biscuits do so well here. After two sold-out nights at the Boulder Theater and two more shows at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, the Biscuits continue to bring it hard in the Rocky Mountain State. Clearly the most exciting part of the whole thing for fans and band alike, however, was Allen Aucoin’s triumphant return to the drum kit after health issues prevented him from playing the New Year’s run.
[All photos by Jason Woodside]
January 13 – Boulder Theater, Boulder CO
A high-energy King Of The World got things started Thursday night in Boulder. Jon “The Barber” Gutwillig came out swinging, shredding lead lines on his Gibson with gusto, if perhaps a little tastelessly. Lasers dropped for the first time during the jam in Morph Dusseldorf, angled perfectly throughout the entire run so as to only hit the ceiling and the balcony, providing a liquid laser-beam landscape free of blinding for all. The rest of the evening’s highlights were a Lunar Pursuit that started from a dead stop, which then segued into an inverted Crickets. Bouncy, energetic and fun, for a moment it was even reminiscent of another certain four-piece improv outfit. That segment, along with a searing hot Neck Romancer were what made the show. The end of that tune is one of the better peaks that they have composed recently, and the piece truly lends itself to Biscuits jamming.
Set 1: King Of The World, Morph Dusseldorf, Vassillios >Spacebirdmatingcall
Set 2: Pat And Dex, Lunar Pursuit > Crickets1 > Portal To An Empty Head, Neck Romancer, Mulberry’s Dream
Encore: Highwire
[All setlists via Phantasy Tour - Bisco]
January 14 – Boulder Theater, Boulder CO
Friday night’s show saw another four-song first set. A startup jam featured bassist Marc Brownstein teasing Basis For A Day by interjecting sections of the song’s bassline, but before it could get there, they worked their way into Floodlights, which they left unfinished before launching into a rather exploratory first set. While it had its moments, there was quite a bit of meandering that didn’t go too far. What was immediately apparent despite the meandering was Aron Magner’s choice of keyboard sounds. His sound design has truly evolved, and the tones he is using these days are as futuristic, spacey and cutting edge as ever.
READ ON for more from the Biscuits’ Colorado run…
The second set, however, was a different story. Trucker’s Choice is about as fun a song as they have in their repertoire, and the jam got off to a fiery start. The entire segment to follow was spectacular Biscuits; a tight, focused jam out of Shimmy before they gracefully made their way into Bombs, a song that while silly invokes serious improvisation. The rest of the set was well played, with excellent song selection including I Remember When and the fan-voted encore, Therapy.
Set 1: Jam > Floodlights > Little Betty Boop1 > Munchkin Invasion2 > Basis For A Day
Set 2: Trucker’s Choice > Little Shimmy In A Conga Line >Bombs > The Great Abyss > Little Shimmy In A Conga Line, The Big Happy > I Remember When
Encore: Therapy
January 15 @ Ogden Theatre, Denver CO
The first night at the Ogden theater got off to a great start; 7-11’s long composition had the crowd ready for a jam, and the otherwise generic sounding techno jam got very interesting when they started teasing out the beginning of Floes. This was easily the highlight of this show; the Confrontation segment was good, but the entire second set was uninspired. Nughuffer is a great song, but Catalyst in the middle is like a big wet blanket. The set certainly could have used something to heat it up, instead of the stretched out, energy-sucking, noodling of Catalyst. Home Again in the encore was only redeeming factor. True redemption would have to come on Sunday. And indeed it did.
Set 1: 7-11 > Floes, Uber Glue, Confrontation > I-Man1 >Confrontation
Set 2: Mirrors, Nughuffer > Catalyst > Nughuffer, We Like To Party
Encore: Home Again
January 16 @ Ogden Theatre, Denver CO
While the jam out of Helicopters didn’t really go anywhere, the inverted Bernstein and Chasnoff was a real treat for everybody, with Brownstein’s slap funk juicing up the entire room. This set really began to heat up when they started to jam into Jigsaw Earth. Allen’s patience really showed here, all eyes on him as he controlled the beat and played the peak just as he should have, demonstrating restraint while being able to let loose at just the right moment. This was easily one of the best moments of the weekend.
The second set saw a very different breed of Biscuits; dark, jazzy and spacious. Deep cuts like The Tunnel and Sister Judy’s Soul Shack were serious crowd-pleasers, but the whole Save the Robots segment was tons of fun. Barber playing jazz is really where it’s at, and it got the whole room swinging. With an inverted Above The Waves in the middle of Save The Robots, it was the kind of old school segment many had been waiting to hear. Aceetobee to close the set, while short, was well placed. Spy in the encore slot left a lot appearing let down, but when they started up 42, it was apparent that all in attendance were in for a treat. The jam out of 42 and into the end of Helicopters was a glorious finale to a fun weekend for The Disco Biscuits in Colorado.
Set 1: Helicopters > Bernstein And Chasnoff1 > Svenghali2,Abraxas > Feeling Twisted > Jigsaw Earth
Set 2: The Tunnel, Save The Robots > Above The Waves1 >Save The Robots, Sister Judy’s Soul Shack, Aceetobee
Encore: Spy, 423 > Helicopters
, sung in Knox Miller's striking falsetto vocals that conjures up comparisons to an odd mix between Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Tom Waits.
