Lotus, an electronically inspired and quasi-instrumental jam band hailing originally from Indiana (but with roots in both Philadelphia and Denver), played a killer two-night show at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville a few weeks back.
Lotus, an electronically inspired and quasi-instrumental jam band hailing originally from Indiana (but with roots in both Philadelphia and Denver), played a killer two-night show at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville a few weeks back.
The sold-out concert, which was rampant with the energetic and enthusiastic fan base commonly associated with Lotus, transformed the typically meek midnight streets of downtown Charlottesville into a rowdy jam-rock paradise. Inside and outside the venue, vendors displayed various examples of handmade artwork, including paintings, wire-wrapped jewelry, and graphic t-shirts. Many of the paintings had even been made during the show, with the artists brushing along intensively to the beat of the music.
Having never been to the Jefferson Theater before, I was incredibly impressed with both the sonic quality of the building and the relatively laid back nature of the staff members. The fans in attendance couldn’t have asked for a better place (outside of Red Rocks) to experience two hard-hitting nights of fantastic music.
The first night’s act felt a bit more intimate, and featured performances of some of the bands more laid back material, including the songs “Travel,” “Spiritualize,” and “Bubonic Tonic.” Two exceptions were incredibly up-beat renditions of the songs “Tip of the Tongue” and “Scrapple”, which got the entire crowd, including myself, dancing along uncontrollably.
The second night, which had a significantly better light show, included a funkier, more dance driven set list. Lotus opened the Sunday show with the song “Harps”, which sounded impressively clean and demonstrated a distinct tightness and clear unity among the band members.
When I interviewed bass player and synth guru, Jesse Miller, to preview this show, he had commented that the band had been doing a lot of work to improve the togetherness of their live performances, which definitely showed this past weekend in Charlottesville.
Other songs from that night were “Uffi”, a half time version of “Plant Your Root”, and covers of the songs “Flim” by Aphex Twin and “Machine Gun” by The Commodores. However, my favorite moment of the entire show came when Lotus played an extended version of their song “Umbilical Moonrise”, which fans had been screaming to hear the entire weekend.
Overall, the show went off without a hitch, although I was slightly surprised by the lack of new material performed. “Pitched to the Fire” and “Cloud 9” were the only two songs off the new album, Monks (which dropped earlier this month), that the band played. But I guess this makes sense considering that Monks is littered with features from contributing rappers, which could make it complicated to perform live.
Nevertheless, the band sounded fantastic, the fans had a hell of a good time, and I walked away from the show eagerly anticipating Lotus’s next return to Virginia.
