Review: Steal This Ticket @ Spiegeltent
EOTO, DJ Logic and a new supergroup, named Agents of Mayhem, made up of Steve Molitz (Phil Lesh & Friends, Particle), Jon Gutwillig (the Disco Biscuits), Michael Travis and Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident, EOTO) and DJ Logic (MMW) performed together on Sunday night at an event called Steal This Ticket. Mike Sherwood attended the gig and filed this report…
Wow! What an awesome time was had down at the Spiegeltent in South Street Seaport on Sunday night. First off, the venue was really cool. Anybody who has the chance to check out Spiegelworld when it comes to your town should definitely go. We entered to find a well-decorated big top tent with a tremendous light rig all around the venue. The music was phenomenal. The night started a little later than anticipated with doors opening almost a full hour and a half later than we were told. Oh well, I knew this was going to be a late night anyway.
DJ Logic warmed things up with about 25 minutes of scratching and house stuff before Michael Travis and Jason Hann joined him onstage. EOTO locked into a quick groove with him before taking over on their own for about 30-45 minutes. If trance is your thing then EOTO should be right up your alley. Even if it isn’t, there is no denying how much fun those two guys are having with this project. There were lots of infectious and danceable grooves from EOTO with some nice peaks to their jams.
Once Barber, Molitz, and Logic took the stage it was on like Donkey Kong. The Agents of Mayhem set was a long exercise in tension/release-untz jamming and was well received by the crowd. There were moments that were jaw dropping. Sadly there were no tapers (although I’d give my left nut to hear a SBD of this, leaked or otherwise). One of the highlights of the night was Barber getting “arrested.” Basically, the production team staged a faux arrest of Barber in the middle of an intense jam. An actual NYPD cop came on stage and demanded Barber’s guitar. He defiantly started to rip in the guys face (the rest of the band was peaking at this point too). After “finally” relinquishing his Becker, Barber gets cuffed and dragged offstage. A bunch of Bisco kids FREAK! Molitz runs around and starts talking to the crowd and telling Trav, Jason, and Logic “Keep playing, we’re not done.” A dark jam ensues prompting the crowd to chant “fuck the police.”
READ ON for more of Mike’s Spiegeltent review…
After about ten minutes, Barber returns to the stage and says the cop is a Bisco fan and will let him stay out of jail if he can play a song with them. The cop has a guitar and a great cover of The Beatles’ Come Together ensues. The rest of the set was highlighted by two more covers (MGMT and Daft Punk) and some more high energy jamtronica. All in all a really fun night well worth getting to bed at 3AM for. Travis and Hann must have been tired, as they were onstage all night with the exception of the brief DJ Logic set. Props to Steve Molitz for putting this project together with what he said were “his favorite musicians in the world.”
Folks that didn’t go, or left early on account of it being a Sunday, missed out on a high energy performance by a perfect blend of like-minded musicians celebrating a man who helped to pioneer this scene over 40 years ago. It was clear that these guys spent at least a little time together rehearsing because there were hardly any moments where things got “lost,” which is something that happens all too often in these superjam type projects. Here’s to hoping the tapes of Sunday night’s performance get released.
Awesome! I had forgotten all about this. Thanks for the great review. SOunds like some great music went down.
very cool, a bit bummed I wimped out on this one.
Barber did an amazing job acting like he was getting arrested.
Spiegelworld sounds like a place that could only host fun, tripped out, avant guard events.
I should go.
But for any of you who missed this show, I see EOTO is playing in Oct. at Sullivan Hall. They put on such a show, they’re sick musicians.
Its Oct. 16th. Note the date…