Electron – January 16th – Fox Theatre

The Scene:  The usual suspects were out in full force as super-group Electron brought out fans of The Disco Biscuits, Brothers Past, Lotus, and even The Grateful Dead to a near sold-out Fox Theatre show.   This was stop two of a four night Colorado run and anticipation levels were high after the band delivered and electric and memorable one set show in Fort Collins the previous night.  The band did not disappoint and delivered a top notch performance despite moving away from the sound most fans have grown accustomed to.

Electron: After kicking off their four night run with a energetic one set show in Fort Collins at The Aggie, the all star quartet featuring Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner from The Disco Biscuits,  shifted gears a bit.  “Home Again” set the mood and warmed up the crowd before “And The Ladies Were The Rest of The Night”  got the whole room moving,  delivering the 4 on the floor dance party that fans of this brand of electronic rock have come to know and love.  “Ladies” segued into the ending of “42” but not before some serious fireworks from the band.  Songs like “Ladies” have been a staple in the Electron catalog since their inception but it is still truly impressive to see a band that rarely plays together have such great chemistry and appear to be so dialed in with each other.

Following “42”, the band treated fans in attendance to “Three Wishes,” a song that TDB have only played a handful of times in the last 15 years.  Moments like these are part of what make Electron so great to see.  While it would be easy to think an Electron show is just Disco Biscuit-lite, that simply isn’t the case. Having songs like “Three Wishes” in rotation with Electron provides fans the chance to hear songs they would probably never hear but even more importantly, hearing these songs played with two other fantastic musicians leads to new and unexplored territory in these familiar tunes.  Nowhere during the weeks festivities was this more evident than during the segment that followed.

Upon the first few synth notes of “Digital Buddah” the crowd exploded, and with good reason. “Buddah” is a sure-fire rager and  the band wasted no time getting down to business.   While “Buddah” is normally accompanied by a heavy, industrial style techno jam, this one headed into that aforementioned unexplored territory.  Instead of building that techno theme, things turned into a swirling jam that seemed to tumble on top of itself sounding almost like a Grateful Dead jam from the summer of ’72.  This kind of psychedelic madness was no doubt influenced both by guitar player Tom Hamilton, who has been playing with Dead-centric projects like Phil and Friends and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, and drummer Mike Greenfield from Lotus.   In my conversation with bassist and band founder Marc Brownstein, Brownie described Greenfield’s playing as much jazzier and swinging with a lighter touch compared to the in your face, aggressive style of TDB drummer (and suspected T1000 robot) Allen Aucion.  That jazzier vibe was on display all night and as the “Buddah” jam reached a mind-bending peak it seemed we were headed for more uncharted waters.   Those waters were reached as the band smoothly dropped into “Tomorrow Never Knows”  the George Harrison penned, sitar driven gem from The Beatles Revolver.   While many of the younger and less musically experienced fans in the room had looks of confusion on their faces, washed up old men like myself reveled in the chance to hear these guys take on such an unexpected song.  As “Tomorrow Never Knows” faded back into the psychedelic swirl, things surged again and the band shifted back into the signature, dance party sound familiar to most in the room before launching back into the end of “Digital Buddah.”  While this segment was not exactly what most in attendance had come to see, it was one of the highlights of the weekend and truly showcased the eclectic talent on stage.

After a relatively short set break,the band hit the stage with authority starting with the beginning of “42;” the same song they had ended the first set with.  As the jam of 42 started to morph into segue territory, Tom Hamilton took over and put his stamp on things with some blistering guitar work before launching into the peak and ending of “And The Ladies Were The End Of The Night.”   For those paying attention, the first set had a “Ladies->42 (ending)” so the “42>Ladies (ending)” was a fun bit of setlist shenanigans that these musicians love to throw at their fans.

Up next was “The City” and its lyrics of “sitting on a mountain top, 15 miles above the city” seemed appropriate given the setting and had most in the audience grinning ear to ear.  Another more recently penned Brownstein tune followed and as “Portal To An Empty Head” surged, Hamilton once again took the reins driving this jam into a more old school direction.  Hamilton’s riffs seemed to build and build until striking some familiar and iconic licks signally to those listening what was to come.  At this point, Brownstein seemed to perk up as he walked over and met Hamilton in the middle of the stage to make sure all four members were locked and loaded before dropping into a monster “I Know You Rider.”  This once again sent the crowd into a fervor as just about everyone in attendance sang along to the iconic Grateful Dead anthem.  After the epic sing along, and subsequent jam, faded back into “Portal” the band let the crowd catch their breath and as the band skirted around in some ambient space, those familiar with the bands repertoire knew we were about to blast back off into spaceville one last time.

Aside from Brownstein penned Disco Biscuit songs, Electron’s song catalog is filled with some amazing Pink Floyd covers and after the kaleidoscopic madness the band brought to the stage there was really only one choice to close out the set.  “Echoes” Pink Floyd’s monster opus from Meddle truly was the perfect way to end a show where the band seemed to focus their efforts on taking things out on an old school, psychedelic wing as opposed to the dance driven, electronic sound for which they are known.  This version did not disappoint and the band left the stage to raucous applause before encoring with “Plan B.”  It was easy to see the excitement on Brownstein’s face knowing that he still had two more nights in CO to showcase what this project can do.  Those of us who would be in attendance at those shows shared that sentiment as we headed home for the evening.

Energy: B+
Musicianship: A-
Sound: B
Stage Presence: B
Set/Light Show: B

Overall:  B+