Photos by Dave Vann
The Scene: After what can only be described as an epic night that will go down forever in Red Rocks history (which you can read about here), The Disco Biscuits headed back to The Ogden Theatre for their 4th and final performance of the weekend. After such an amazing night on the rocks, both the crowd and band were anxious to close things out with a bang and The Biscuits did not disappoint. “Denver is on FIRE right now” were the words bassist Marc Brownstein touted before getting things going and it seems the band was dedicated to keeping that fire burning for at least one more night.
Disco Biscuits: Tom Hamilton (American Babies, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead) joined the band on guitar as they opened with what seemed to be an obvious and perfect choice to get the party started. Keeping with the theme of celebrating 50 years of The Grateful Dead the quintet launched into “One More Saturday Night.” To my surprise this brought some negative rumbles from some of the kids I overheard in the smoking area later in the night. I have to admit I find it pretty sad that these kids can’t grasp or understand why the band would go this route. Maybe it’s a generational gap, or too many nights spent in K Holes, but they should feel lucky to see their favorite band get to team up with self described “musical heroes” and pay tribute like this. Either way, the rest of us were loving it and you could see the joy in the band’s faces as they ripped their way through “One More Saturday Night.”
After a short but sweet “Plan B,” things picked up quickly and the band delivered what may have been the best segment of the weekend. “Morph Dusseldorf” has been a song that I honestly haven’t enjoyed hearing for some time. For whatever reason, it’s one of the few songs that drummer Allen Aucoin seems to have yet to master since joining the band in 2006 but this version was different. Out of the off-beat, and odd-tempo’d, opening sections, the drop out and Funk jam clicked perfectly and gave way to some seriously nasty dance grooves and driving rhythms. The dark and grimey themes the band hit on suit “Morph” perfectly and once again the foursome built things up to ridiculous levels of energy and tension. These monster jams come as no surprise and often lead people, myself included, to hinge on what the huge build ups will lead into. Despite my best efforts I could not stop hoping that we’d finally get the “Spacebirdmatingcall” the band seemed to be teasing all weekend long but it was not meant to be. That said, disappointment was the furthest thing from my mind as the band ripped into the middle section of “Jigsaw Earth.” “Jigsaw” is one of the gnarliest compositions in the Biscuit’s catalog of songs and they absolutely crushed this version. On top of the insane guitar, key, and bass line interplay, “Jigsaw” gives Aucoin a chance to shine with, what is usually, a short drum break down before it drops back into its Reggae style verses and chorus. I say “usually” because on this night Aucoin took full advantage of this moment. Whether he was inspired by playing with Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann the previous night, or just decided it was time for him to take over, Aucoin delivered a blistering, extended drum solo that had everyone in the room, his bandmates included, in awe.
From “Jigsaw” things just kept raging and the band ripped back into the ending of “Munchkin Invasion,” something I’d been dying to hear since the band played the first half on Thursday night. While the end of “Munchkin” is one of my favorite, and more playful parts, of any Disco Biscuit song I will say that they have been having trouble of late nailing the drop. The song builds to such an epic and euphoric peak that when the drop is off, even by just a bit, it has a very anti-climatic feel to it. I may be nitpicking here but the Biscuits are certainly not the first band to have this kind of thing seemingly pop-up from nowhere after years of performing a song. Phish has had the same issues with the drop in “Ghost” but have seemed to have simplified it and have since figured it out. I hope TDB can do the same because it’s such an amazing part to one of their best songs. Even with the semi-off drop, “Munchkin” ending was a perfect way to cap off an amazing set of music.
Not wasting any time, set two started with a monster, stand-alone, version of “Caterpillar.” It’s truly something to behold when this band is on top of their game and killing it and “Caterpillar” treated the entire room to this feeling. From there, the band kept the high energy up with “Highwire.” I used to feel alone in loving “Highwire” as it is an unabashedly cheesy song and, unless you are prone to loving that kind of cheese, its easy to disregard. That said, I get the feeling that a lot of people will be converted after hearing this version. From the first notes it was like a bomb went off in the room and almost every single person was jumping and singing along. Aside from when the “Laser Snow” hit at Red Rocks I can’t think of a single moment from the entire run that had the crowd going nuts like they did when the first chorus of “Highwire” hit. From there things took a turn towards the tropical as the deep jam out of Highwire landed on an inverted “Humuhumunukunukuapua’a” that segued into “Tempest” before, to the surprise of just about everyone in the room, heading back into the now fan favorite “Highwire.”
With about 20 minutes or so left on what was an insane weekend, it was once again pretty obvious what was coming next. For those not familiar with the band’s history, bassist Marc Brownstein has always been known as someone who loves his weed. With 4/20 only hours away there was really only one song to close out the set with. The aptly named “Nughuffer” is about a pipe that has broken on the bathroom floor and is accompanied but a narrative section from Brownie. This time around, Marc spoke about his excitement for The Cannabis Cup, then pulled his artists pass out of his pocket, pointing the the phrase “There is no Plan B” and spoke of the 9am call he got the previous morning telling him that Red Rocks had been cancelled. Whether that was true or not, serious thanks to the entire Disco Biscuits organization and crew is in order because pulling off a show in those conditions then heading back to The Ogden was certainly a monumental task. Brownstein gave those heartfelt thanks then the band dropped into one more furious, techno laden jam to close out the the set.
As Tom Hamilton strolled out on stage for the encore it was no surprise that we were going to get one last tip of the hat to The Grateful Dead and with one fan favorite missing from the week’s festivities it was not hard to guess what was going to close out the run. From the first iconic chord, anyone who didn’t know what was going down immediately got the picture as the room exploded. “Shakedown Street” got the whole room bouncing one last time and while the song probably didn’t go into any groundbreaking directions, it was the absolute perfect way to close out what will be regarded as one of the best four night runs the band has played in years.
It’s hard to put into words how special it is for me when The Disco Biscuits come to town. Between the old friends who invade Denver, the new friends I always end up making, and the insane shenanigans that always seem to follow, I’d be happy to watch Allen fart on a snare drum all weekend and would still have an ungodly amount of fun. With all that said, this run provided so much more than just fun and definitely delivered on the budding promise we’ve seen from the band over the last half a year. Hopefully they can continue to build on all this positive momentum and keep pushing musical boundaries in a way that only The Disco Biscuits are capable of.
Energy: A
Musicianship: A
Sound: B+
Stage Presence: B
Set/Lights: A+
Overall: A-
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